20

CHAPTER 3 APPARATUS FOR EMG MEASUREMENT

This chapter discusses the design and material used for the EMG measurement device. The device is basically an EMG amplifier. For our future task, EMG data will be used for classification of prehensile EMG patterns. After feature extraction, the adequate control signals will be generated, and then sent to the robot hand. The device should be able to capture the EMG signals from four surface electrodes. These signals will be recorded for thumb, index finger, middle figure, and a combination of ring and little fingers. The device consists of four main parts: electrodes and extensions, preamplifiers, filters, and amplifiers with bias adjustment. To store and display the data on a computer, we will need an A/D converter (analog to digital converter) and user programming interface. This requires the amplification of signals to the TTL level (which ranges between -5 volts and +5 volts). Otherwise the computer would not be able to recognize the signals. Figure 3.1 shows the stages of an EMG measurement or recording. When a muscle is contracted, the electrode picks up an EMG signal. Then the preamplifier boosts the signals high enough to prevent electrical interference. The preamplifier also filters the noise. After that the additional amplifier increases the amplitude of signals to the TTL level and adjusts the bias or offset if necessary. Finally A/D converter converts signals into digital form to allow the EMG Capture (EMGC) program to read and store EMG data in the file. The EMGC program is described in more detail in Chapter 4. The device will have four input channels, and one set of outputs which will be connected to the analog capture card (A/D converter). The finished product looks like a plastic box that contains four input phone jack connectors, one output RJ-45 connector, a couple of adjustment screws and a power switch. When performing a grasping experiment, the electrodes will be placed on the area of the muscles as shown in Figure 3.2. The EMG amplifier device will be placed under or over the forearm.

21

Figure 3.1: EMG measurement stages.

Figure 3.2: EMG amplifier device.

3.1 ELECTRODES AND EXTENSIONS

An EMG amplifier is designed to be used with a skin surface electrode. This type of electrode is defined as a bipolar electrode. The surface electrodes are not expensive. The problem with skin surface electrodes is that they create sometimes an unstable contact. An unstable contact causes potential motion artifacts. It could also add thermal noise to an EMG signal. A high impedance electrode could help prevent thermal noise problem. To avoid unstable skin contact the electrode must be placed firmly to the skin. To secure the electrode contact the electrode that has an adhesive surface is selected for this EMG amplifier. The electrode used in this project is a Square Cloth [15] electrode which is a pad that has dimension of 0.875 inches. A Velcro strap is used to secure the electrode to the skin for additional contact stability.

22 The extension is a stereo phone wire soldered to a snap-on and sewed on a piece of plastic with a Velcro strap as shown in Figure 3.3. A Velcro strap is used to wrap around the forearm to stabilize the contact of the electrode. A snap-on is used for holding the electrode. A signal will be transmitted to the preamplifier by the stereo phone wire.

Figure 3.3: Extension. Using a stereo phone wire is fitted to the design of our EMG amplifier. The ground conductor of the stereo phone wire shields the input of the preamplifier circuit from noise. It is connected to the body reference circuit as shown in Figure 3.6 (shield, discussed in Section 3.2.2). The stereo phone wire consists of three conductors. They are commonly used in the left and right speakers of basic stereo. The two speakers share the same common ground conductor. As in the design of our EMG amplifier, a preamplifier uses a differential amplifier circuit which needs two positive and negative inputs. One of the body reference circuit inputs is a shield wire as shown in Figure 3.6. This shield provides protection from noise. The left and right conductors of the stereo phone wire are preamplifier inputs. A ground conductor is for shielding. In addition, a stereo phone wire is flexible enough to do a grasping experiment without changing the orientation of the electrode contact with the skin. The length of the wire should be short. The longer wire provides more chance of picking up noises. However, the wire should have enough slack to allow plug-in into the EMG amplifier. The total number of electrode contacts to be used in this EMG amplifier is nine, with eight electrode contacts used for the four input extensions (two differential contacts for each electrode extension), and another one used for the body reference extension. For the input extension electrode, the contacts are placed about one inch from each other as shown in

23 Figure 3.4. Since the pad has a dimension of 0.875 inches, they cannot be placed closer to each other, because the pads must not touch each other.

Figure 3.4: The distance between electrodes.

3.2 PREAMPLIFIER
As explained earlier, EMG signal is so small that computer could not read it. While the amplitude of the signal is between 0 to 10 millivolts (peak-to-peak), or 0 to 1.5 millivolts (rms), the usable frequency of an EMG signal is ranging between 50-150 Hz [7]. At this state, we need a huge gain (about thousand times) to boost the EMG signal without changing phase or frequency of the signal. This preamplifier uses a typical differential amplifier circuit, which contains two inputs (positive input and negative input). The differential amplifier circuit subtracts two inputs and amplifiers the difference. To get the right level of the input signal, we need a body reference circuit which works as a feedback from the inputs. Whenever the body temperature changes or signal changes due to noise introduced by the body, this body reference will help maintain the correct level of signal. In each input channel, there is one body reference feedback. However, with four channels, we could use common body reference feedback by averaging body references from all four channels. The following section will explain the specific details of the preamplifier.

3.2.1 Power Supply

The Power supply unit provides positive voltage, negative voltage, and ground for all components in the circuit. The 9-volt battery is suitable to supply voltage for all the components because it is easy to find and is cost-effective.

24 In order to create positive and negative power supply voltage, two 9-volt batteries were connected in series. The ground line was placed at the junction between the two batteries. Therefore the +9 volts and 9 volts provided the source for the power supply. The capacitors function to stabilize the power supply current. Thus, they prevent dramatic change in current. This is necessary because when the components are too distant from the power source, oscillation of the current could develop. Such an oscillated current is unsuitable for an integrated circuit (IC) [3]. The two capacitors (C1 and C2) are in parallel connection with the 9-volt batteries as shown in Figure 3.5. These capacitors compensate oscillations.

Figure 3.5: Power supply unit circuit.

3.2.2 Preamplifier and Body Reference Circuit

A suitable operational amplifier (op-amp) for this type of application is the Instrumentation Amplifier. This type of op-amp usually provides excellent accuracy because it provides high bandwidth even at high gain. The EMG amplifier used a BURR-BROWN, INA2128 chip for the preamplifier and OPA2604 for body reference circuit, as suggested by the application information data sheet of INA2128 [4]. The data sheet of INA2128 and OPA2604 [4] [5] is shown in Appendix B. INA2128 is a dual op-amp. Therefore, only two chips were used for four channels. OPA2604 is also a dual op-amp. This saved space on the printed circuit board (PCB).

25

Figure 3.6: Preamplifier with body reference circuit. Figure 3.6 shows the preamplifier circuit and the body reference circuit from only one channel. The preamplifier is a differential amplifier circuit. The EMG amplifier has four channels. The preamplifier needs a huge gain of thousand times. As shown in [4], the equation for gain is:

Gain = 1 +

50k RG

(3.1)

where RG / 2 = R1 = R 2 , for gain = 1,000 can be determined directly from equation (3.1) RG 1 50k 1 50k = = = 25.025 2 2 (Gain 1) 2 (1000 1) After calculation, RG / 2 is about 25 ohms. However, the closest value of resistance available in market is 22 ohms. Thus, the resistor value of 22 ohms was used for R1 and R2 as shown in Figure 3.6. Substituting RG / 2 = 22 ohms into equation (3.1) gives:

Gain = 1 +

50k = 1137.364 2 22

Therefore the actual gain for the preamplifier is about 1137. This is sufficient for our purpose.

3.2.3 Averaging Body Reference Circuit

Our EMG amplifier has four channels; therefore, there are four preamplifiers and four body reference circuits. However, these four body reference circuits could be combined into

26 one common body reference circuit. This reduces the number of electrode contacts from four to one. To create the common body reference circuit, an inverting summing is used. For summing amplifier, the value of each resistor should be calculated. With the right ratio of resistor values, the inverting summing amplifier would provide an average output result.

Figure 3.7: Inverting summing amplifier circuit.

Figure 3.7 shows the inverting summing amplifier circuit for four inputs. Resistor RB is a compensating resistor. It is placed to ensure that both inputs of the op-amp (positive and negative inputs) have similar resistance to ground. This helps to minimize problems caused by op-amps bias current. The value of resistor RB is equal to the parallel combination of RF and all of the input source resistors. The output voltage ( Vout ) can be computed as follows [37]: For independent R1 , R2 , R3 , R4 , and RF :
V V V V Vout = RF 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 R1 R2 R3 R4

For R1 = R2 = R3 = R4 , and RF independent Vout = RF (V1 + V2 + V3 + V4 ) R1 (3.2)

From equation (3.2), average output can be taken by giving the correct ratio to RF / R1 ; in our case RF / R1 is approximately equal to 1/ 4 . However, using an inverting summing amplifier op-amp, the output still has an opposite sign to the input. To change the sign for the output, another circuit is needed.

27

Figure 3.8: Sign changing circuit.

Figure 3.8 shows the sign changing circuit. The sign changing circuit is actually built from an inverting amplifier circuit which has a gain equal to one. The output of an inverting amplifier circuit can be determined by [12]: Vout = if R 2 = R1 Vout = Vin To create the average body reference, the BURR-BROWN, OPA2604, dual op-amp was used to construct the inverting summing amplifier circuit and the sign changing circuit. R2 Vin R1 (3.3)

Figure 3.9: Averaging body reference circuit.

Figure 3.9 is the averaging body reference circuit, a combination of an inverting summing amplifier circuit and sign changing circuit. Ideally, using a resistor ratio of 1/ 4 , the inverting summing amplifier yields the output as an opposite sign from the input from the

28 body references of four channels. Using the resistor value from Figure 3.9, we can compute Vout at point A using equation (3.2) by: VoutA = 1k ( Bodyref1 + Bodyref 2 + Bodyref3 + Bodyref 4 ) 4.7k (3.4)

The result of VoutA is the input for the sign changing circuit. Using equation (3.3), the voltage at point B is: VoutB = 1k (VoutA ) 1k 1k 1k = ( Bodyref1 + Bodyref 2 + Bodyref3 + Bodyref 4 ) 1k 4.7k 1 ( Bodyref1 + Bodyref 2 + Bodyref3 + Bodyref 4 ) 4

As a result, at point B, we get the average body reference of four channels which has the same sign as input. Therefore, this point can be used for a common body reference electrode.

3.3 FILTER
The filters were applied after the output of the preamplifier, so that they help to prevent noise that has been amplified by the preamplifier. The filter also helped to sink any DC current that could cause bias for the signal. In our EMG amplifier, a simple RC high pass filter circuit was used. Since the usable energy of the EMG signal is dominant within the range of 50-150 hertz, a cutoff frequency of about twelve hertz for a high pass filter was selected because it will not reject the necessary information of the EMG signal. To get a twelve hertz cut off frequency, a resistor value of 91 kiloohms, and capacitor value of 150 nanofarads were selected to connect an RC high pass filter circuit as shown in Figure 3.10.

Figure 3.10: RC high pass filter with cutoff frequency of about 12 Hz.

29 The cutoff frequency of the RC filter can be computed from [12]: 1 f cutoff = . 2 RC The cutoff frequency of our RC filter can be computed by using equation (3.5). With a substitute resistor and capacitor value as given in Figure 3.10, the cutoff frequency of the filter becomes: (3.5)

1 f cutoff = 2 91k 150nF = 11.66 12 Hz

3.4 GAIN AND BIAS ADJUSTMENT

The amplifier and bias adjustment could be considered as a second stage for the EMG amplifier. The amplifier and bias adjustment provide an ability to adjust or correct the output signals in some circumstances. For example, the amplitude of amplified signal from the preamplifier is not high enough for an A/D converter. Or, the amplified signal still has a bias or offset. Therefore, these problems can be resolved by using of the gain and bias adjustment. In our EMG amplifier device, each channel has an individual gain adjustment unit and an individual bias adjustment unit. In other word, the amplification of the signal made for channel one will not affect the other channels. Within the same channel, the gain and bias adjustment are related since the output of an amplifier is the input to the bias adjustment circuit. Therefore, when doing the calibration, one should take this fact into account. The calibration procedure is explained more in section 3.7. There is a limitation of the gain and the bias adjustment. The amplifier in our EMG device can amplify about 21 times. The bias adjustment can adjust the signal up or down by the level of positive nine volts, or negative nine volts. However, by the nature of op-amp, the output from the op-amp can not be more or less than the power supply voltage. For example, if in a given two volts of input are fed to an amplifier which has a gain equal to three times (gain is equal to three), and then the offset is increased by positive two volts, the final output from calculation will be equal to eight volts [ (2 3) + 2] . If the power supply is +9 volts, and
9 volts, op-amp can produce eight volts. This is acceptable. However, if the gain of an

30 amplifier is changed from three to four times, with the same input level, the final output from the calculation will be equal to ten volts [ (2 4) + 2] . Because of the characteristic of the opamp, nevertheless the op-amp will give the output of nine volts or less, due to the internal voltage drop of the op-amp.

3.4.1 Amplifier (Gain)

The amplifier in our EMG device uses basic non-inverting amplifier circuit. The input of the amplifier is the output from the filter. To be able to adjust the gain, potentiometers (adjustable resistors) were used to connect the circuit. The highest gain of the amplifier is designed to be approximately 20 times or 21 times in theory.

Figure 3.11: Non-inverting amplifier circuit.

Figure 3.11 demonstrates non-inverting amplifier circuit. Vout and gain can be determined by [12]:
R Vout = Vin 1 + 3 , R1 R Gain = 1 + 3 . R1

(3.6)

The compensation resistor Rs is placed to reduce the error in the output voltage. The error is caused by the voltage drops resulting from the op-amps input bias current [12]. The value of Rs is usually equal to the parallel combination of R3 and R1 .

31 In our EMG amplifier, the BURR-BROWN, OPA2604 chip is used to construct a non-inverting amplifier circuit. The OPA2604 chip is a dual op-amp; therefore, one op-amp was used for gain circuit and another op-amp was used for bias adjustment circuit.

Figure 3.12: Amplifier circuit with gain adjustment.

Figure 3.12 shows the circuit of amplifier for one channel. R34 is a compensation resistor, which is equal to the parallel combination of R40 and R35 . R40 is a potentiometer or adjustable resistor. Therefore, when R40 is adjusted to 0, there is no gain (gain =1). On the other hand, when R40 is adjusted to the maximum of 200 kiloohms, the gain is equal to 21. The calculation can be done by using equation (3.6). At R40 = 0 :
R Gain = 1 + 40 R35 0 = 1 + 10k =1 At R40 = 200k : R Gain = 1 + 40 R35 200k = 1 + 10k = 21

32 Computing the value of R34 :

R34 = = R40 R35 R40 + R35

200k 10k 200k + 10k = 9.524k 10k

3.4.2 Bias Adjustment

Bias adjustment circuit is used to increase or decrease the reference level of the signal. Normally, the reference level of the signal is at ground line or zero volts. However, if the reference level is not at ground line, or the desired reference level is needed, the bias adjustment enables a user to adjust the reference level to the desired level.

Figure 3.13: Offset adjustment for voltage follower.

Figure 3.13 shows the circuit for offset voltage adjustment for voltage follower circuit which uses a similar concept as a non-inverting amplifier circuit as shown in Figure 3.11. However, in offset adjustment circuit, the ground level is virtually created by using potentiometer. The adjustment of potentiometer changes the reference level to the output voltage. To understand this circuit, the calculations will be discussed for three different cases. That is, when potentiometer R2 is adjusted to 0%, 50%, and 100%. The output of any of three cases is given by:

Vout = (Vin Gain) + Vadj , where: V1 Vadj V2 .

(3.7)

33 In order to clarify, let V1 be equal to +Vcc and V2 be equal to Vcc . Therefore, at 0%, 50% and 100% of R2 , the values of Vadj are equal to +Vcc , 0 or ground level, and
Vcc respectively. Note that at 0%, 50% and 100% of R2 , the values of R2 are equal to

zero, R2 / 2 , and R2 ohms respectively. Using equation (3.6) to calculate the gain and using to equation (3.7) to calculate the output, the gain (with respect to ground level) and the output voltage ( Vout ) in each case can be computed as follows: Case 1: at 0% of R2 : ( R2 = 0 ohms; Vadj = +Vcc volts)

Gain = 1 +

R3 R1

(3.8)

R Vout = Vin 1 + 3 + Vcc . R1

(3.9)

Case 2: at 50% of R2 : ( R2 =

R2 ohms; Vadj = 0 volts) 2

Gain = 1 + R3 R R1 + 2 2 , (3.10)

Vout

R3 = Vin 1 + R R1 + 2 2

(3.11)

Case 3: at 100% of R2 : R2 = R2 ohms; Vadj = Vcc volts) Gain = 1 + R3 , R1 + R2 (3.12)

R3 Vout = Vin 1 + Vcc . R1 + R2

(3.13)

From above equations, the second case does not have an additional voltage (offset) added to the output. That means the output of the circuit is referenced by a virtual ground level. While in case 1 and 3, there are additional voltages added to the output level either positive or negative. As a result, the offset of the output voltage can be adjusted by using this fundamental concept.

34 In our EMG amplifier device, the same chip as introduced in section 3.4.1 (Amplifier) was used. The chip is a dual op-amp; one op-amp was used for amplifier circuit, while another op-amp was used for bias adjustment circuit. Therefore, each channel, it needs only one chip.

Figure 3.14: Bias adjustment circuit.

Figure 3.14 illustrates the circuit of Bias adjustment for one channel. The gain in each case (0%, 50% and 100% of R2 ) can be computed by using the equation (3.8), equation (3.10) and equation (3.12) where R3 is one kiloohm and R1 is ten kiloohms. As the result, the gain in each case is equal to 1.1, 1.029, and 1.017 respectively, which is approximately equal to one. Therefore this bias adjustment circuit approximately have no gain. The output of this circuit is roughly the summing of input ( Vout ( Amp ) ) and the voltage range of +9 and -9 volts. To adjust the reference level to positive value (up), add positive voltage to the input (case 1) as shown in equation (3.9). To adjust the reference level to negative value (down), a negative voltage to the input (case2) should be added as shown in equation (3.13). By using equation (3.7), final output can be determined by: Vout _ final = Vout ( Amp ) 9V . The protection resistor R39 was placed into the circuit to protect a short circuit in case when the output of the circuit ( Vout ) is accidentally short-circuited to the ground level. If this

35 situation happened without R39 , the circuit would be shorted. However with R39 the circuit is protected as R39 serves as a load resistor for the circuit. Usually the protection resistor has low value to allow electrical current to flow easily. For this reason, the value of 22 ohms is selected for R39 . The whole circuit diagram of the EMG amplifier shown in Appendix A. The EMG amplifier device draws the current about 83 milliamps. The 9-volt alkaline battery has a capacity of 500 milliamps hour [10]. Therefore, this EMG Amplifier device can be operated continuously for approximately six hours.

3.5 A/D CONVERTER AND USER INTERFACE

To record the EMG signals to a computer, a conversion of analog signal to digital signal is needed. The analog to digital converter (A/D) is a device that converts an analog signal to a digital signal. There are lots of A/D interface cards available in the market. The difference of those interface cards is determined by the clock speed, the resolution bit rate, the number of analog input/output channels, or by the software that comes with it. The specific A/D interface card that is used in this project is the NI 6220 M-Series Multifunction DAQ from National Instrument Company [36]. Some specifications of NI6220 M-Series are available in Table 3.1. The NI 6220 DAQ card has sixteen bits resolution of analog input, and a clock speed from eight hertz up to one megahertz, which is fast enough to capture the EMG signal for our experiments. This A/D interface card does not provide analog output. Therefore, some characteristics are skipped in Table 3.1. For more information about NI 6220, please see Appendix B. The output from EMG amplifier is connected to the analog input port of A/D interface card. When conducting grasping experiment, the EMG signals will be captured by using our implemented program called EMG Capture or EMGC. The EMGC program has an interface with the supplied driver of the A/D interface card. The EMGC program will command the A/D converter card to read the EMG signals. The EMG data can be saved in a text data file by using the EMGC program. These data can be analyzed for the future task

36 such as performing a feature extraction and a pattern classification process. The explanation of usage and implementation of the EMGC program are explained in Chapter 4.
Table 3.1: NI 6220 DAQ Specification Bus PCI

Analog Inputs Analog Input Resolution (bits) Analog Outputs Output Resolutions (bits) Max Output Rate (kS/s) Output Range (V) Digital I/O Correlated (Clocked) DIO

16 16 24 8 Hz, up to 1 MHz

3.6 FINAL PRODUCT ASSEMBLY

After finished design and testing of the EMG amplifier on a breadboard, next step is to make a usable product. All the circuits implemented in the breadboard are transferred to a printed-circuit board or PCB. All the electronics components such as resistors and capacitors, and ICs are soldered to the PCB. Then, the PCB is covered with plastic enclosure to protect the circuit from external environment. The only thing left to be seen are the control buttons, input connectors and output connectors, which are standard electronic components. Nowadays people use electronic design software for making a PCB. Most of the electronic design software provides two modules. The first module is used to draw a schematic. The second module is used to design a PCB. The schematic diagram is an electronic circuit that represents each electronic component by using standard electronic symbols. To make a PCB by using electronic design software, a schematic diagram has to be drawn first. Once the schematic diagram is finished, the software creates a circuit connection database. The database contains all connections of the electronic design. The database is often called netlist. The netlist is then imported to the PCB design module. In this phase, the software is deciding where to put all the components and draw a copper trace to connect them together. In our case, the EMG amplifier schematic was designed by using software

37 called Multisim8 from Electronics Workbench Company [16]. The PCB was designed by using software called Ultiboard7 from the same company [17]. Most of the electronic design software have ability to export the PCB design file into a machine file. The PCB cutting machine uses machine file to drill holes for the components, to cut the PCB into shape, to layout the copper trace, or to print text on PCB. The PCB manufacturers usually accept the machine file for producing PCB.

Figure 3.15: The PCB of the EMG amplifier.

Figure 3.15 shows the finished PCB of the EMG amplifier as produced by the manufacturer. The PCB is designed to accept two nine-volt batteries on each side. Since the device will be placed under the forearm, placing batteries on each side distributes the weight balance. The dimension and the layout plastic enclosure can be found in Appendix B [39]. This PCB is a double layer PCB. A double layer defines a top copper layer and a bottom copper layer. A through hole is used to connect trace between two layers. The text and component layout printed on the PCB is called silk screen layer. The Appendix A shows layout of each layer of our EMG amplifier. Figure 3.16 shows the EMG amplifier after soldering all components into the PCB. There are two 9-volt batteries placed on each side. After soldering all components, PCB is required to be cleaned to remove residue flux from pre-soldering process. Usually non conductive substance spray such as a contact cleaner is used to clean the PCB after soldering.

38

Figure 3.16: The EMG amplifier after soldering.

Our EMG amplifier has four input channels and four output channels. The RJ-45 connector is selected to be the output connector. The RJ-45 has eight conductors. Four conductors are used for output signals and other four conductors are used for ground signals for each output channel. The EMG amplifier will be connected to the analog inputs of the A/D interface card, which has 68 pins. The A/D interface card provides 68 pins for its features such as digital inputs and outputs, and analog inputs. However, our EMG amplifier is using only four analog input channels of the A/D interface card which is only eight pins (four channels and ground each). The pin connections of the EMG amplifier and the A/D interface card are shown in Table 3.2. More detailed information about the pin layout of the A/D interface card is shown in Appendix B.

3.7 EMG AMPLIFIER CALIBRATION PROCEDURE

Similar to any electronic measurement device, our EMG amplifier device needs to be calibrated for accuracy. Calibration is performed to correct the value of each output reading from the EMG amplifier by comparing it to the input value. Figure 3.17 demonstrates the calibration procedure for our EMG amplifier. Since there are four input channels of the EMG amplifier and each channel is operated separately, each channel requires a separate calibration. The calibration procedure requires a function generator. The function generator is used to generate the input signal for the EMG amplifier. In our case, the sinusoidal wave with amplitude of 100 millivolts at frequency of 50 hertz is

39
Table 3.2: EMG Amplifier and A/D Interface Card Pin Connection EMG Amplifier A/D Interface Card

Description Vout CH1 Gnd Vout CH2 Gnd Vout CH3 Gnd Vout CH4 Gnd

Pin Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Pin Number 68 67 33 32 65 64 30 29

Description AI 0 Gnd AI 1 Gnd AI 2 Gnd AI 3 Gnd

used as the calibration signal. This input signal is then circuitry reduced 1,000 times via voltage a divider circuit to produce 100 V input signal. The device of the attenuation is determined by the fact that our EMG amplifier has a fixed gain of 1,000 at the preamplifier. The output signal from the EMG amplifier should be equal to the input calibration signal (100 millivolts without any offset and gain). The calibration begins by adjusting the bias followed by adjusting the gain. In case if an arbitrary gain is needed, the amplitude of the output signal should be equal to the desired gain value multiplied by 100 millivolts. For instance, if the gain two is needed, the amplitude of the output signal should be equal to 200 millivolts. The signal amplitude of 100 millivolts is used to simulate an EMG signal. The frequency of 50 hertz is selected as the signal input for a calibration because the ambient noise frequency occurs primarily within the range 50 hertz or 60 hertz. Such input signal is easily contaminated by noise. If the EMG amplifier works satisfactory at this signal condition, it is expected that it will work satisfactory at other less vulnerable signal conditions. As mentioned at the beginning, each channel has its own gain adjustment and bias adjustment control. Therefore the calibration has to be performed for each channel, one channel at a time. For an accurate measurement, each channel should have the same gain.

40 The output signal of the calibrated device should have no offset. The ground level of the output signal should be at zero voltage.

Figure 3.17: Calibration procedure.