Biomedical Control

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Engage proficiently with the more advanced signal processing and control courses.
• Appreciate the latest research methods being undertaken in biomedical rehabilitation and assistive technology.
• Use MATLAB as a design and simulation tool.
• Understand how control systems and signal processing techniques are applied in biomedical technology.
• Apply time and frequency domain techniques for the analysis of linear systems of any order.
• Analyse and design simple linear control systems.
• Program control system design and analysis problems in MATLAB.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Application of hardware, signal processing techniques and control systems design in biomedical technology.
• Research undertaken in biomedical rehabilitation and assistive technology.
• The techniques used to design and analyse the performance of control systems.
• The principles of control theory.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Use the control point of view to analyse biomedical problems.

Control (26 lectures):

• Recap of the Laplace Transform and its properties, including initial and final value theorem
• Differential equations and transfer functions
• Characteristic equation
• Block diagram notation
• Use of Matlab and other CAD tools.
• Feedback Control Systems
• Open loop v closed loop
• Stability
• Sensitivity
• Disturbance rejection
• Transient response
• Steady state error
• Root Locus Analysis
• Bode Plots
• Gain and Phase Margin, Bandwidth
• Estimation of system transfer functions
• Stability in the Frequency Domain
• Nyquist Stability Criterion
• Gain and Phase Margin
• Controller Design
• Common control methodologies
• PI, PD and PID, Pole placement, Pole-zero cancellation
• Compensators, Phase Lead and Lead-Lag
• Benefits and Disadvantages - the need for other control strategies

Application of control theory and signal processing in biomedical engineering (10 lectures):

• Overview of control theory and signal processing techniques within biomedical applications.
• Overview of current state of the art control techniques for rehabilitation and assistive technology.
• Fundamentals of biomedical electronics and signal processing, to include discussion of:

Electromyography (EMG)

Electroencephalography (EEG)

Biomechanical kinematic and kinetic signals

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)

with special reference to their application in control systems design for rehabilitation and assistive technology.

• Research case study: application of control techniques in lower limb orthoses (e.g. for drop foot)
• Research case study: application of control techniques in upper limb stroke rehabilitation, and in Parkinsonian/Multiple Sclerosis tremor suppression.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

T. F. Quatieri. (2001). Discrete-Time Speech Signal Processing: Principles and Practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

R. Rangayyan (2002). Biomedical Signal Analysis: A Case-Study Approach. Wiley InterScience.

R. Shadmehr and S. P. Wise (2004). The Computational Neurobiology of Reaching and Pointing: A Foundation for Motor Learning (Computational Neuroscience). MIT Press.

R. C. Dorf and R. H. Bishop. (2005). Modern Control Systems. Pearson Prentice Hall.

Soderberg (eds. 1992). Selected Topics in Surface Electromyography for Use in the Occupational Setting: Expert Perspectives NIOSH (document 91-100).

B. M. Nigg, and W. Herzog. (1994). Biomechanics of the Musculo-skeletal System. New York: Wiley & Sons.

D. A. Winter (1990). Biomechanical and Motor Control of Human Movement. (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley & Sons.

G. Clifford, F. Azuaje, F. and P. McSharry, P. (eds.) (2006). Advanced Methods and Tools for ECG Data Analysis. Norwood, MA: Artech House.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External