Introducing the Monash vision group's cortical prosthesis

Monash Vision Group is developing a bionic eye based on implanting 7–11 small tiles into the visual cortex. Each tile has 43 active electrodes on its base, and a wirelessly powered electronic system to decode control signals and drive the electrodes with biphasic pulses. The tiles are fed with power and data using a common transmitting coil at the back of the patient's head. Sophisticated image processing, described in a companion paper, ensures that the user experiences maximum benefit from the small number of electrodes. This paper describes the progress in the first three years (2010–2012) of this four-year project.