Project Description

PROJECT NUMBER 78
Project Title: Control of a flight Simulator using electrical muscle signals
Staff Name: Francisco Sepulveda
Pre-requisite: CE221-5-AU-CO: C++ PROGRAMMING
Co-requisite: None

FlightGear is a popular open source flight simulator. In this project the student will develop the software whereby signals from the human user‟s arm and hand muscles will be used for controlling the virtual aircraft. The project requires knowledge of C++. Previous knowledge of basic digital signal processing and machine learning are desirable but not essential. Although some basic techniques in these areas will need to be learned and implemented for successful completion of the project, it can be tailored to suit the student‟s background.

Open Day Abstract

Before the production of muscle force, small electrical currents are generated by muscle fibres as a signal to contract. An electromyogram (EMG) records these signals, via a set of electrodes near the muscles. This project tries to infer the user’s intentions using signals from their arm muscles, and use that to control a simulated aircraft. Electrodes are placed on the surface of the skin and the signals are sampled by a computer. After filtering and extracting information from these signals, a classifier is used to categorise them into groups of actions. These actions are then mapped to the controls for a flight simulator.

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