A HIGH-RESOLUTION LARGE ARRAY (HRLA) SURFACE EMG SYSTEM

A high-resolution large-array (HRLA) SEMG system comprising 256 separa te channels has been developed. SEMG signals are detected by a ''brace let'' active electrode array connected to a stack of newly designed bi opotential instrumentation amplifiers. A stand-alone data logger acqui res and stores the array EMG activity at high sampling rates. A RISC m ultiprocessor network supports computationally-intensive array signal processing and analysis algorithms. In addition, an improved optoelect ronic system the measurement of human body kinematics has been associa ted to the HRLA SEMG system to provide the related mechanical characte ristics of muscle activity. Analysis results demonstrate that high-res olution muscle fibre conduction velocity histograms can be obtained ev en from skeletal muscles in which a large number of motor units are si multaneously activated.