Projects

The EDC++ project aims to push the limits of CMOS-integrated smart penetrating neural probes building on state-of-the-art CMOS-integrated electronic depth control (EDC) probes developed by IMTEK. These intracortical probes will autonomously adapt to evolving activity patterns while maintaining an uninterrupted, rich flow of information from the brain. Within this one-year exploratory project we will elaborate the conceptual basis as well as selected hardware for probes satisfying these requirements. We will address three interrelated areas of research: (1) Switching architecture enhanced by local memory cells enabling the uninterrupted recording from stable portions of the recording configuration combined with an efficient reconfiguring process; (2) On-shaft low-noise circuitry for signal pre-amplification and pre-filtering multiplexed to the selected recording sites; (3) Reinforcement learning to deal with probe and activity pattern shifts in the brain.