Why do we not have a 32 channel EEG headset from OpenBCI?

Last Updated on August 6, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org

OpenBCI currently allows only up to 16 channels. 32 channel EEG devices are now available from Emotiv:

Pros & cons of the Epoc Emotiv 32 channel EEG headset

We are happy that we have scientific papers who use the Epoc Flex 32 in scientific papers which proof the functioning of the device. But still our favorite 32 channel EEG headset is the one from g.tec medical:

If your budget allows: g.Nautilus Multi-Purpose EEG Headset with g.SAHARA HYBRID active electrodes

which is expensive. OpenBCI modules are affordable and also have a good software support. And do we really need a 50 000 USD EEG headset from g.tec medical for our own specialized application? Why is there no 32 channel headset from OpenBCI to start to investigate this question? The OpenBCI architecture allows heatsets up to 16 channels. More channels could be reached by streaming sensor data from multiple OpenBCI modules into a single InfluxDB. But to get all the parameters, as for instance also phase and coherence, all the EEG channels have to be sampled at exactly the same time.

We therefore promote the idea of a specialized OpenBCI shield to solve this problem. For instance the OpenBCI WIFI shield could be used as a starting point and modified.

To make such a project real is a sophisticated task for someone with the skills of computer scientist A. J. Keller, who developed the OpenBCI WIFI shield:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjaykeller/

And until the next A. J. Keller solves this problem, we have the Emotiv Epoc Flex 32 with 32 EEG channels to start investigating 32 channel EEG headsets.