FPGA based visual prosthesis device for testing visual perception on non human primates

Researchers have been trying to develop a visual prosthesis device for last four decades. Earlier efforts were hindered by the shortcomings of technology. Recent technological advancements have improved the likelihood of developing a practical intracortical visual prosthesis device that can be implanted in blind human subjects. The requirement of such a device is to operate in real-time for a high density of implanted electrodes, low power, light weight and flexibility to adapt to different stimului and image processing conditions. It has been known since the early twentieth century that electrical stimulation of visual cortex produces visual percepts called 'Phosphenes.' However, practical experimental setups are lacking that demonstrate the integration of phosphenes into an larger visual perception. We have developed an experimental setup to test the possibility of inducing large-scale visual perception in a non-human primate by stimulating implanted microelectrodes. This will help to raise the confidence in the intracortical approach before an actual human implantation is attempted. This paper discusses the hardware architecture and experiments developed for a preliminary visual prosthesis device to test visual perception.