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Biological
neural networks form intricate configurations that sense
and modulate an organism's thoughts and behavior. To understand
these networks, neurobiologists often use stationary (not
portable) instrumentation, which skews the quality of
the information gathered. The Neurochip was designed to
gather more accurate data by placing miniaturized instrumentation
onto animals, and then studying their natural neurobiological
behavior (i.e., collect neuromuscular data while observing
behavior and even provide external stimuli).
The
Neurochip is small and lightweight enough to be carried
by a moth. Using a high-speed video to capture the intricate
maneuvers of moth flight while the moth hovers on a flower
or flies in a wind tunnel, scientists can draw a correlation
between video and biological signals, and perhaps answer
some of the long unanswered questions of insect flight
and intelligence. Furthermore, by adding controlled motion
to the flower and disturbances to wind currents, you can
begin to understand how biological control systems adapt
to changing environmental stimuli.
An
8-bit PSoC microcontroller running at 3 MHz is the core
of the Neurochip. The PSoC device enables the Neurochip
to acquire data from two sets of muscles or neurons, and
then digitize and compress the data. The Neurochip then
stores the data on an Atmel serial flash memory device.
Jaideep
Mavoori, Mark Enstrom, Mike Tu, Chris Diorio, and Tom
Daniel
Seattle, WA, U.S.
jaideep@washington.edu
Abstract
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