Designing of a single channel EEG acquisition system for detection of drowsiness

Drowsiness refers to the condition of feeling abnormally sleepy during day time. It reduces concentration level and slows down the response time, which eventually increases the error rate. While most of the people feel drowsy at some point or another, sleepiness at an inappropriate time can indicate sleep disorder or other medical problems. Drowsiness can be dangerous when people such as drivers, industrial workers, pilots, air traffic controllers perform their tasks which require high concentration. Research shows that drowsiness can be detected by several methods. Where most of the methods are indirect, EEG provides a direct measurement of the level of consciousness of an individual. The purpose of this paper is to design a single channel EEG acquisition system which can be used for detection of drowsiness. We have designed and developed a single channel EEG acquisition system which is portable and cheap. Dry Ag/AgCl electrodes are used to acquire signal to avoid any kind of discomfort to the subject. The acquired EEG signal is separated into theta, alpha and beta waves using signal processing unit. Signal processing unit can be interfaced with a microcontroller unit which will be programmed to analyze drowsiness. An alarm will be activated once drowsiness is detected.