A Microprocessor-Based Polarity Correlator for the On-Line Measurement of Muscle Fiber Conduction Velocity

The measurement of the average conduction velocity of action potentials along muscle fibers has important applications in muscle fatigue study and ergonomics. A cross-correlation-based method for the estimation of this velocity from surface electromyography (EMG) is presented. It is implemented on a standard low-cost 8-bit microprocessor. The use of cross correlation for such an on-line application has been made possible by the use of an efficient polarity correlation algorithm.