VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Jnana Sangama, Belgaum-580014

BAPUJI INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Davangere - 577004

EIGTH SEMSTER -2011

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION
ENGINEERING
SEMINAR REPORT ON
“BIONIC EYE”
DELIVERED BY
MADAN T
4BD07EC045
ON THE DAY
30-03-2011

Smt. Banumathi.K.L Prof.K.M.Chandrasekharaiah

LECTURER HEAD OF THE DEPT
ABSTRACT

Technology has created many pathways for the mankind. Now technology has been

improved to that extent in the entire human body can be controlled using a single electronic chip.

Previously prosthetics helped to overcome handicaps. Bio medical engineers play a vital role in

shaping the course of this prosthetics. Now technology is developed to introduce bionics for

artificial vision.

The implant is based on a small chip that is surgically implanted behind the retina, at the

back of the eye ball. An ultra-thin wire strengthens the damaged optic nerve; its purpose is to

transmit light and images to the brain’s vision system, where it is normally processed. Other than

the implanted chip and wire, most of the device sits outside the eye. The users would need to

wear special eye glasses battery-powered camera and a transmitter, which would send images to

the chip implanted behind the retina. The new device is expected to be quite durable, since the

chip is enclosed in a Titanium casing, making it both water-proof and corrosion-proof. The

researches estimate that the device will last for at least 10years inside the eye.
INTRODUCTION

There is no replacement for human sight. It is simply incomparable because of its

capacity to see. Our life is full of pictures we daily see. Life without sight is dark. The purpose of

the report is to provide an accurate and detailed description of the Bionic eye (Optoelectronic

Retinal Prosthesis System) and its function. The new technology uses an external camera worn

on a pair of dark glasses that sends images to a radio receiver implanted near the eye that

transmits the signal on to a tiny silicon and platinum chip that sits on the retina. This information

then goes down the optic nerve into the brain.

THE HUMAN EYE

We are able to see because light from an object can move

through space and reach our eyes. Once light reaches our eyes, signals

are sent to our brain, and our brain deciphers the information in order to

detect the appearance, location and movement of the objects we are

sighting at. The whole process, as complex as it is, would not be possible if it

were not for the presence of light. Without light, there would be no sight. The human eye is the organ

which gives us the sense of sight, allowing us to learn more about the surrounding world than any of the

other five senses. The eyeball is set in a protective cone-shaped cavity in the skull called the orbit or

socket and measures approximately one inch in diameter. The orbit is surrounded by layers of soft, fatty

tissue which protect the eye and enable it to turn easily. The important part of an eye that is responsible

for vision is retina.

Rods and Cones are the two light sensing

cells present in the retina responsible for

capturing light and resulting in vision. Rod

cells pick up movement out of the corner of the

eye and also, in a normal eye it is the rods that operate in poor light or at night. There are about 120

million rods in each eye and they are more numerous towards the outer edge of the retina The cone cells

are used in colour vision and in close precision work like reading. There are not as many cones and they

are more concentrated in the centre of the retina (the Macula).

For vision to occur, 2 conditions need to be met:

1. An image must be formed on the retina to stimulate its receptors (rods and cones).

2. Resulting nerve impulses must be conducted to the visual areas of the cerebral cortex for

interpretation.

Disease of eye

· Retinitis pigmentosa

· Macular degeneration

Retinitis pigmentosa

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is the name given to a group of hereditary diseases of the

retina of the eye. RP may be caused by a breakdown in the function of the rods or the cones in

some part of the retina. The retina is so complex that breakdowns may occur in a variety of ways

and so RP is not a single disorder but a great number of disorders. The breakdown of cone

function may be called Macular Degeneration.

Macular Degeneration

Macular is a sensitive area in the centre of the retina which provides us with sight in the

centre of our field of vision. It allows us to see the fine details when we look directly at

something. In macular degeneration, a layer beneath the retina, called the retinal pigment
epithelium (RPE), gradually wears out from its lifelong duties of disposing of retinal waste

products. A large proportion of macular degeneration cases are age- related.

Age related Macular Degeneration (AMD) usually affects people over the age of 50 and

there are two distinct types - "wet" AMD and "dry" AMD. "Wet" AMD results from the growth

of new blood vessels in the choroid, causing an accumulation of fluid in the macula which leads

to retinal damage. This type of degeneration can often be successfully arrested by laser surgery.

"Dry" AMD represents at least 80% of all AMD cases and results in atrophy of the

Retina. Usually yellowish-white round spots called drusen first appear in a scattered pattern deep

in the macula Later degeneration of both the Pigment Epithelium and the cones begins. While

AMD is not inherited in a predictable way, heredity may be involved to some extent.

HOW IS VISION IMPAIRED?

Damage or degeneration of the optic nerve, the brain, or any part of the visual pathway

between them, can impair vision. For example, the pressure associated with glaucoma can also

damage the optic nerve. Diabetes, already cited as a cause of retina damage, can also cause

degeneration of the optic nerve. Damage to the visual pathway does not always result in total

loss of sight.

Depending on where damage occurs, only a part of the visual field may be affected. A

stroke can cause vision impairment when the resulting tissue damage occurs in one of the regions

of the brain that process visual information.

A more common treatment for curing blindness has been corneal transplantation
BIONIC EYE

Bionic eye is a type of neural prosthesis intended to

partially restore lost vision or amplify the existing image. An

artificial eye provokes visual sensations in the brain by directly

stimulating different parts of the optic nerve. There are also other experimental implants that can

stimulate the ganglia cells on the retina or the visual cortex of the brain itself.

Artificial Silicon Retina (ASR)

The ASR is a silicon chip 2 mm in

diameter and 1/1000 inch in thickness. It

contains approximately 3,500 microscopic

solar cells called "microphotodiodes,"

each having its own stimulating electrode.

These microphotodiodes are designed to

convert the light energy from images into

thousands of tiny electrical impulses to

stimulate the remaining functional cells of

the retina in patients suffering with AMD and RP types of conditions.

 The ASR is powered solely by incident light and does not

require the use of external wires or batteries. When surgically

implanted under the retina, in a location known as the sub retinal

space, the ASR is designed to produce visual signals similar to

those produced by the photoreceptor layer. From their sub retinal

location these artificial "photoelectric" signals from the ASR are in a position to induce

biological visual signals in the remaining functional retinal cells which may be processed and

sent via the optic nerve to the brain.

How Artificial Vision Will Work?

Creating artificial sight:

The current path that scientists are taking to create artificial vision received a jolt in 1988,

when Dr. Mark Humayun demonstrated that a blind person could be made to see light by

stimulating the nerve ganglia behind the retina with an electrical current. This test proved that the

nerves behind the retina still functioned even when the retina had degenerated. Based on this

information, scientists set out to create a device that could translate images and electrical pulses

that could restore vision.

Today, such a device is very close to becoming available to the millions of people who

have lost their vision to retinal disease. As you can see in the picture at the top of this page, the

ASR is an extremely tiny device, smaller than the surface of a pencil eraser. It has a diameter of

just 2 mm (.078 inch) and is thinner than a human hair. There is good reason for its microscopic

size. In order for an artificial retina to work it has to be small enough so that doctors can

transplant it in the eye without damaging the other structures within the eye.
Bionic eye implants

Researchers working for the Boston Retinal Implant Project have been developing a

bionic eye implant that could restore the eye sight of people who suffer from age-related

blindness. The implant is based on a small chip that is surgically implanted behind the retina, at

the back of the eyeball. An ultra-thin wire strengthens the damaged optic nerve; its purpose is to

transmit light and images to the brain's vision system, where it is normally processed. Other than

the implanted chip and wire, most of the device sits outside the eye. The users would need to

wear special eye glasses containing a tiny battery powered camera and a transmitter, which

would send images to the chip implanted behind the retina. The new device is expected to be

quite durable, since the chip is enclosed in a titanium casing, making it both water-proof and

corrosion- proof. The researchers estimate that the device will last for at least 10 years inside the

eye.
The MARC System

In our case, the intermediary device is the MARC system pictured in Figures 2A and 2B.

The schematic of the components of the MARC to be implanted consists of a secondary

receiving coilmounted in close proximity to the cornea, a power and signal transceiver and

processing chip, a stimulation-current driver, and a proposed electrode array fabricated on a

material such as silicone rubber [3,14], thin silicon[9], or polyimide[25] with ribbon cables

connecting the devices. The biocompatibility of polyimide [10,11] is being studied, and its thin,

lightweight consistency suggests its possible use as a non-intrusive material for an electrode

array. Titanium tacks[12] or cyanoacrylate glue[13] may be used to hold the electrode array in

place.

Overall System Functionality

The MARC system, pictured in Figures 1-4 will operate in the following manner. An

external camera will acquire an image, whereupon it will be encoded into data stream which will

be transmitted via RF telemetry to an intraocular transceiver. A data signal will be transmitted by

modulating the amplitude of a higher frequency carrier signal. The signal will be rectified and
filtered, and the MARC will be capable of extracting power, data, and a clock signal. The

subsequently derived image will then be stimulated upon the patient’s retina. As shown in

Figures 1-5, the MARC system would consist of two parts which separately reside exterior and

interior to the eyeball. Each part is equipped with both a transmitter and a receiver. The primary

coil can be driven with a 0.5-10 MHz carrier signal, accompanied by a 10 kHz amplitude

modulated (AM/ASK) signal which provides data for setting the configuration of the stimulating

electrodes. A DC power supply is obtained by the rectification of the incoming RF signal. The

receiver on the secondary side extracts four bits of data for each pixel from the incoming RF

signal and provides filtering, demodulation, and amplification. The extracted data is interpreted

by the electrode signal driver which finally generates appropriate currents for the stimulating

electrodes in terms of magnitude, pulse width, and frequency.

SOME FACTS ABOUT BIONIC EYES

Scientists at the Space Vacuum Epitaxy Centre (SVEC) based at the University of

Houston, Texas, are using a new material, comprising tiny ceramic photocells that could detect

incoming light and repair malfunctioning human eyes. Scientists at SVEC are conducting

preliminary tests on the biocompatibility of this ceramic detector. The artificial retinas

constructed at SVEC consist of 100,000 tiny ceramic detectors, each 1/20th the size of a human

hair. The assemblage is so small that surgeons can’t safely handle it. So, the arrays are attached

to a polymer film one millimeter in size. After insertion into an eyeball, the polymer film will

simply dissolve leaving only the array behind after a couple of weeks.

THE ANALOGY

There is a great degree of coherence between the ways our eyes function to that of a

change over time as the respective camera. Perhaps – our eyes had been the technologies are

further developed and inspiration behind the camera’s invention.

From the structural point of view the eye may be compared with a camera. The eyelids

act as a shutter and there is an entrance – the cornea; a diaphragm to regulate aperture and

therefore the amount of light entering – the iris; a lens to focus the image;
Advantages

Although the device will not be able to restore the eye sight of the entire blind

community, researchers are certain many people will benefit from the technology. For instance,

age-related macular generation is the leading cause of blindness in the industrialized world, with

about 2 million Americans currently suffering from the condition. The new technology will

hopefully assist people suffering from this condition, and individuals suffering from retinitis

pigmentosa (a genetic condition), but will not help glaucoma patients. The researchers note the

device has some limitations, and it will not restore perfect vision. However, they are sure it will

give people the advantage of having a general sense of their surroundings. Hopefully, the

technology may enable people to recognize faces and facial expressions. "The thing is to

significantly improve the quality of life for blind patients," said Joseph Rizzo of the

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, who has co-directed the project with MIT's John Wyatt

since 1988.

Disadvantages

The scientists explain that the bionic eye will be affective for individuals who once had

sight, since their brain knows how to process visual information. The unfortunate people who

were born blind do not have the neurological capability to process the data received via the wire.

Furthermore, the optic nerve must be at least partly functional. Otherwise, the data will not be

fully processed. For many individuals that were born blind, this is a problem as well, since their

optic nerve has never been used. This new technology will not be helpful for glaucoma patients.
 CONCLUSION
Its been 40 years since Arne Larsson received the first fully implanted cardiac pacemaker

at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.Researchers throughout the world have looked for ways

to improve people's lives with artificial, bionic devices.Bionic devices are being developed to do

more than replace defective parts. Researchers are also using them to fight illnesses.Providing

power to run bionic implants and making connections to the brain's control system pose the two

great challenges for biomedical engineering.We are now looking at devices like bionic arms,

tongues, noses etc.