August 6, 2003

Introduction to dry electrodes

Motivated principally by the need for stable long-term ECG at NASA, scientists have explored the possibility of dry electrodes since the early-60s. However, due of the ultra-low voltages involved, it was not until the mid-90s that Alizadeh-Taheri, et al. first published on a dry EEG sensor [1]. More recently, Harland et al. presented an alternate design based on commercially-available amplifiers [2]. In the following section, I detail important insights gained over the development of dry ECG sensors as well as the transition from dry ECG to dry EEG sensors.

Credit for the original dry electrode belongs to Lopez and Richardson [3]. Built in the late-60s, their insulated electrode was the first not to rely on an electrolytic solution for electrical contact with the body. Subsequent dry sensors, including the ones I have cited for EEG, have been based on it. This is not to say that there were not efforts prior the insulated electrode to record ECG or EEG without electrolytic paste. However, these early attempts were discouraging, the resulting recordings being severely hampered by motion artifacts. Lopez and Richardson addressed this issue by coupling surface potential fluctuations to the amplifier using a capacitive rather than resistive connection [4]. The electrode is called insulated because in this scenario the body is insulated from the amplifier. To appreciate this insight, we can skip back number of years to lithium chloride (LiCl) impregnated balsa wood electrodes.

References
[1] B. Alizadeh-Taheri, R. L. Smith, and R. T. Knight, "An active, microfabricated, scalp electrode array for EEG recording," Sensors and Actuators A, vol. 54, pp. 606-611, 1996.
[2] C. J. Harland, T. D. Clark, and R. J. Prance, "Remote detection of human electroencephalograms using ultrahigh input impedance electric potential sensors," Applied Physics Letters, vol. 81, no. 17, pp. 3284-3286, 2002.
[3] A. Lopez, Jr. and P. C. Richardson, "Capacitive electrocardiographic and bioelectric electrodes," IEEE Trans Biomed Eng, vol. BME-16, no. 1, p. 99, 1969.
[4] P. C. Richardson, F. K. Coombs, and R. M. Adams, "Some new electrode techniques for long-term physiologic monitoring," Aerosp Med, vol. 39, no. 7, pp. 745-50., 1968.

Posted by torque at August 6, 2003 12:33 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Did you all ever read this by Taheri, Knight and Smith?
http://www.claudealbertario.info/A_Dry_EEG_Electrode.pdf

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