Master’s Research in Borton Nueromotion Lab (BNML)

GPIO Pins on the microprocessorCode-named "OVERWATCH," this project in the BNML is designed to use neurological data from several research projects simultaneously, timestamp and decode that data, and distribute it to the proper equipment.

The project
The bulk contribution to the project was researching the team's needs and putting together the hardware necessary to meet those deliverables. The goal was to create a unit that could handle real-time data routing that was modular enough to be expanded upon (with both software and hardware packages). This meant we needed a system with a lot of high speed parallel throughput capability. After considering several solutions including hard-programming our own FPGA, it was ultimately determined that a Passive-backplane CPU with several PCI slots would best to serve our needs if it were running a real-time operating system. This allowed for the most compatibility for future upgrade, which is one of the main hurdles facing existing solutions.