EMG signal analysis

[j..d]

Hello,

I am using PCI 6040E, LabVIEW 8.6, BNC 2090 for the data acquisition. I want to analyze EMG signals for developing a prosthetic hand. I am new to this thing. Can any one please suggest:

1. Is my DAQ system alright to do these measurements?

2. What additional hardware do I require (Besides EMG surface electrodes, of course  for example do I require some amplifiers etc?

Many thanks.

[rpursley8]

EMG can range up to about 10kHz, so your acquisition system has that covered.

I'm pretty sure you will need some instrumentation amplifiers to scale up the signal at least a factor of 10.  More importantly, it will give you some isolation between the electrodes and the acquisition system.

[Steve.J]

You definitely need a medical-grade amplifier appropriate for acquiring EMG before the DAQ card.  You need both gain, safety (usually isolation, but at least low-leakage and protected inputs), an AC-coupled input (blocks DC offsets from electrodes and movement artifact), and filtering (to prevent aliasing of high-frequency noise).

You can find more information about this at our Biomedical User Group here:  http://decibel.ni.com/content/groups/biomedical-user-group

Look in the Wiki or Documents area - I posted a note about sources for amplifiers like these.