BEATS: An Open-Source, High-Precision, Multi-Channel EEG Acquisition Tool System

Abstract

Stable and accurate electroencephalogram (EEG) signal acquisition is fundamental in non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. Commonly used EEG acquisition system's hardware and software are usually closed-source. Its inability to flexible expansion and secondary development is a major obstacle to real-time BCI research. This paper presents an open-source, highprecision, multi-channel EEG Acquisition Tool System developed by Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications named BEATS. It implements a comprehensive system from hardware to software, composes of analog front-end, microprocessor, and software platform. BEATS is capable of collecting multi-channel micro-volt EEG signals up to 4000 Hz with wireless transmission. And it adopts a pluggable structure and easy-to-access materials, which can easily support rapid prototyping, portability, and scalability. Some underlying techniques like direct memory access, interrupt, first in first out are used to ensure the precision and stability of the program at the microsecond level. Compared to state-of-the-art systems, BEATS maintains a relatively high channel number when acquiring data at a high sampling rate, while being quick to set up and use, making it ideal for a wide range of BCI scenarios or long-term daily monitoring. Schematics, source code, and other materials of BEATS are available at https://github.com/bingzant/BEATS.