Use of MMG Signals for the Control of Powered Orthotic Devices: Development of a Rectus Femoris Measurement Protocol

Abstract

A test protocol is defined for the purpose of measuring rectus femoris mechanomyographic (MMG) signals. The protocol is specified in terms of the following: measurement equipment, signal processing requirements, human postural requirements, test rig, sensor placement, sensor dermal fixation, and test procedure. Preliminary tests of the statistical nature of rectus femoris MMG signals were performed, and Gaussianity was evaluated by means of a two-sided Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. For all 100 MMG data sets obtained from the testing of two volunteers, the null hypothesis of Gaussianity was rejected at the 1%, 5%, and 10% significance levels. Most skewness values were found to be greater than 0.0, while all kurtosis values were found to be greater than 3.0. A statistical convergence analysis also performed on the same 100 MMG data sets suggested that 25 MMG acquisitions should prove sufficient to statistically characterize rectus femoris MMG. This conclusion is supported by the qualitative characteristics of the mean rectus femoris MMG power spectral densities obtained using 25 averages.

Mechanomyography Sensor Development, Related Signal Processing, and Applications: A Systematic Review

“…Five studies [28], [43], [102]- [104] were found related to MMG-based switch control or externally powered prosthesis control (Table XVI). Antonelli et al [102] set a protocol for MMG signal recorded by an accelerometer on the RF muscle in order to control orthotic devices.…”

“…Antonelli et al [102] set a protocol for MMG signal recorded by an accelerometer on the RF muscle in order to control orthotic devices. They investigated mean RMS value, skewness, kurtosis, and power spectral density (PSD) of the MMG signal.…”

The effects of motion artifact on mechanomyography: A comparative study of microphones and accelerometers

“…MMG has been applied in the study of contractile properties of muscle McAndrew et al, 2006;Cramer et al, 2004;Madeleine et al, 2007), myopathies (Barry et al, 1990;Rhatigan et al, 2007;Orizio et al, 1997), fatigue (Shinohara and Sogaard, 2006;Madeleine et al, 2002;Kimura et al, 2008;Itoh et al, 2004), and as a control input to upper extremity prostheses and switches (Silva et al, 2005;Barry et al, 1986;Antonelli et al, 2009;Alves and Chau, 2010a).…”

Design and evaluation of a novel microphone-based mechanomyography sensor with cylindrical and conical acoustic chambers

“…In this setting, simple MMG triggered prosthetics have been developed [18][19][20] and work has been done in classifying the MMG signal into grasping-motion classes [21][22][23][24].…”