Last Updated on January 13, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org
We are interested in low-cost high quality components for biosignal transmission. One major component which could reduces costs for these device is InfluxDB. Devices from g.tec medical costs starting from some thousand dollars to up to 100 000 dollars. One reason for the high costs is the complicated architecture of these multi-sensor devices. InfluxDB could reduce the costs for these devices strongly.
But which would be the basic building block for such future devices based on InfluxDB? Is it an OpenBCI Cyton board with a Bluetooth low energy dongle? Certainly not. To build new devices, contemporary hardware components are necessary, as for instance the OpenBCI WIFI shields.
According to OpenBCI, a hardware change would be necessary to combine sensor data from multiple OpenBCI sensor boards into a single InflxDB.But OpenBCI is against this developement. OpenBCI invests their whole effort in their OpenBCI Galea, which cost more than 20 000 USD.
Next to g.tec medical devices for 50 000 USD, we now have also the OpenBCI Galea for more than 20 000. But we do not have a basic building block for engenieurs interested in building new multi-sensor devices based for instance on a OpenBCI Cyton board with a WIFI shield, which would allow an infinite number of channels.
We do not have a basic building block for the future, which consists of an OpenBCI Cyton board and a WIFI shield which is working, a device combination which is currently sold on Aliexpress for 380 USD. These components can be bought on Aliexpress, but they are shop keepers, since for instance students do not know what could be possible with these devices. And the components are not tested by and used by students and device building electro engineers. One reason for this are people who are not interested in new developments, want to control the market with their expensive devices, and have price agreements which make EEG devices unattractive for developers.
If we preach, an OpenBCI Cyton board with a Bluetooth dongle is a device at the cutting edge of technology, and the OpenBCI WIFI shield is deprecated, then we mislead people, hinder developments, and seem not to be interested in the future.
We can find a huge number of Home Assistant developers, which develop their multi setup devices for Home Assistant. But we do not have low-cost high quality basic building blocks for physiologists and Home Assistant developers to build new devices and make their dreams come true.