DIA, 2010: estudos do AAWSAP avaliam controlar máquinas pelo pensamento e implantes biomédicos em miniatura

UNCLASSIFIED//[FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY, struck through] Defense Intelligence Reference Document Acquisition Threat Support 23 March 2010 ICOD: 1 December 2009 DIA-08-1003-012 Technological Approaches to Controlling External Devices in the Absence of Limb-Operated Interfaces

Technological Approaches to Controlling External Devices in the Absence of Limb-Operated Interfaces Prepared by: Acquisition Support Division (DWO-3) Defense Warning Office Directorate for Analysis Defense Intelligence Agency Author: AAP Person 73 Administrative Note COPYRIGHT WARNING: Further dissemination of the photographs in this publication is not authorized. This product is one in a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2009 under the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Warning Office's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. Comments or questions pertaining to this document should be addressed to [AAP Person 1], AAWSA Program Manager, Defense Intelligence Agency, ATTN: CLAR/DWO-3, Bldg 6000, Washington, DC 20340-5100.

Technological Approaches to Controlling External Devices in the Absence of Limb-Operated Interfaces Introduction Since the advent of modern interactive control of computers, technologies have been sought to directly connect the biological and the physical to form a seamless entity. While science fiction explores the possibilities of shared consciousness between brains and mainframes, real-life scientists work toward an equally fantastic but more pedestrian goal of eliminating required electromechanical human-machine interfaces (HMIs). Such technologies promise integration of thought and computer-controlled action, without the need for a limb-operated device to translate intent from physiological networks to physical circuits. This paper first briefly reviews underlying neural structure, function, and activity to provide background on the type of signals and the scale of temporal changes that arise from conscious control within the nervous system. A short primer on brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) is included at the end of the background material. This is followed by a survey of the state-of-the-art detection and stimulation technologies available utilizing noninvasive and invasive methods, including several studies that exemplify research paths currently being undertaken. Discussion brings together elements of the technology survey, application limitations, a timeline for useful commercial deployment, and predicted future research directions. Two technology research paths are highlighted as the most probable to produce functionally useful devices (defined as nearly equal or even superior to the control capabilities of current HMIs) in the near and far term. The technology endpoint this paper seeks is thought-based operation of remote machinery during normal human activities without mechanical device interaction-that is, control of external devices without the need to go to a specified location, such as a shielded room; without the need to remain perfectly motionless to reduce signal noise; and without the need for interaction with a normal electro-mechanical device, such as an i-Phone or other handheld device with buttons and trackballs. Data transfer rates are sought to exceed 5-10 bits/second to be useful for operation of complex devices; this rate range and above is referred to as high-bandwidth BMIs. Response time for a 1-of-N selection of commands is targeted at 300 milliseconds or less. These are the operational parameters assumed for final implementation unless some limitation or supercapability is described. The paper concludes that noninvasive electrical monitoring of neural activity, primarily reading combined action of muscles and neurons, is the most promising commercial technology in the near term. Inherent limitations in the noninvasive electrical approach require future development of different research paths. The paper argues, mainly by eliminating other approaches, that the most probable technology in the long term involves invasive single-neuron-based direct cortical connections to form a network of high-bandwidth duplex communication pathways. Currently the most promising technologies for robust construction of such an interface are optical stimulation, gating, and sensory devices, and chip-based electrode arrays that have been encased in ex-vivo-engineered neural tissue.

Conclusions The gamut of modern technologies that connect neural systems to physical systems has been surveyed, with attention to the underlying physiological signals. Many examples have been presented of studies illustrating the different research paths under way. Two of these technologies show the most promise of near term and long term successful high-bandwidth integration of brain and external systems. In the near term, noninvasive electrical sensors that primarily rely on EMG signals, but also include those weaker signals directly from neuronal firing, are expected to dominate real-world applications. The decoding of these signals from just a handful of dry sensors can produce a large combination of on-off and variable strength control commands that should surpass the information capability of traditional electromechanical interfaces in the next 5 years. This technology is limited, however, by the number of available EMG sites and the required coherent firing of very large numbers of neurons. To surpass these limitations, technologies capable of connections to individual neurons on a large scale will be necessary. In the far term, an invasive approach to establish high-bandwidth duplex communication networks, 5-20 bits/second, using interfaces with single neurons directly in the cortex or cerebellum can take the fullest advantage of neural training and processing capability. Two research paths currently showing the most promise are optical interfaces and ex-vivo preparation of electrode arrays encased in engineered neural tissue. New electrode designs that could establish two-way communication with single neurons are also promising. The cerebellar connection point is extremely interesting to perhaps provide a connection that would effectively make the external device a part of the body as far as the brain is concerned. The current state of the art using metal electrode arrays for proximal stimulation and sensing does not appear to be advancing toward long duration viability as a commercial BMI without some unforeseen advance in two-way communication. Peripheral connections have some theoretical promise, but an example of such an implant in a human trial did not shown terrific success over several weeks it functioned. Implantation of cortical arrays in human trials has not been conducted on a wide scale for durations longer than a few weeks, and two-way electrical communication has yet to be realistically demonstrated, limiting the possible commercial application portfolio for this technology. Many possible research directions for disruptive advances have been presented. These areas and the physiological-physical interconnection field of study as a whole should be monitored regularly for advances, as well as the ancillary technology areas of brain plasticity, neural signal decoding, and general basic neuroscience. Advances in any and all of these areas could alter the future landscape of commercial applications and dramatically alter our understanding of what is possible through thought-directed control.

UNCLASSIFIED//[FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY, struck through] Defense Intelligence Reference Document Acquisition Threat Support 31 March 2010 ICOD: 1 December 2009 DIA-08-1003-020 Biosensors and BioMEMS: A Survey of the Present Field

Biosensors and BioMEMS: A Survey of the Present Field Prepared by: Acquisition Support Division (DWO-3) Defense Warning Office Directorate for Analysis Defense Intelligence Agency Author: AAP Person 65 Administrative Note COPYRIGHT WARNING: Further dissemination of the photographs in this publication is not authorized. This product is one in a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2009 under the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Warning Office's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. Comments or questions pertaining to this document should be addressed to [AAP Person 1], AAWSA Program Manager, Defense Intelligence Agency, ATTN: CLAR/DWO-3, Bldg 6000, Washington, DC 20340-5100.

Biosensors and BioMEMS: A Survey of the Present Field Introduction Biomedical sensors and implantable devices employing microelectromechanical technology will be important to the future of biomedicine. Once just science fiction, the notion of a bionic man is now becoming a reality through the application of microscale technologies. Today it is not unusual to have a friend or family member who has an implantable device, such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, cochlear implant, biosensor, neurostimulator, or insulin pump. We have only seen the beginning of this technology development, and today's state-of-the-art implantable devices will be seen as crude and cumbersome tomorrow. With the rapid pace of development, it is probable that within the next two decades we will have as many medical treatments based on microdevices as there are pharmaceutical solutions today. This paper examines some of the most recent advances in the field, as well as the technologies that are likely to appear in the next few years.

Conclusion MEMs are characterized by small dimensions, enabling new applications of physical principles to make sensors and actuators of superior characteristics. Physical properties like surface tension and electrostatic charge dominate the operation of the devices, and new fabrication approaches are required to make them. The economic driving forces for this miniaturization are strong for health care and biology. Advanced fabrication processes are still being discovered to further miniaturize electromechanical systems and to bring us into the realm of nanomechanical systems (NEMS). The new class of NEMS devices are expected to provide a higher performance in applications such as sensors, medical diagnostics and in the electronics industry. Some devices will enable experiments on the structure and function of individual biomolecules. This field is expanding rapidly. Searches of the scientific literature show new ideas being developed in a number of laboratories throughout the world.