Low-cost wireless surface EMG sensor using the MSP430 microcontroller

Electromyography is the study of the voltage polarisation signals generated during body muscle contractions. Surface EMG is non-invasive and is ideal for applications such as training, rehabilitation and active prosthesis control. Despite the progress in technology, myoelectric prostheses currently on the market still adopt simple analog sensors. Digital EMG acquisition is now common practice in research and academic institutions, but it involves fairly expensive pieces of equipment. This paper describes the implementation of a low-cost wireless surface EMG digital sensor based on the MSP430 microcontroller from Texas Instruments. The proposed acquisition system fully exploits the capabilities of the eZ430-RF2500 Development Tool to digitise surface EMG signals, transmit them wirelessly between nodes and finally read them into a PC for further processing. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system in acquiring sEMG signals for pattern recognition and real-time control.