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Article by Gerwin Schalk, available: [] Sustainability Analysis by Chris Nguyen
 * Sustainability Analysis of the BCI2000: A General-Purpose Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) System **

General BCI systems consist of several main components, including signal acquisition, signal digitization, signal processing, and execution of device commands. These steps are usually designed for one particular test system, and to interface with a specific device. William McDonough said that the goal of sustainability “is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy, and just world, with clean air, soil, water, and power, economically, equitably, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed.” [4] The BCI2000 development platform take a huge step in the direction of more sustainable designs, because it is designed to provide for versatility in the number of possible applications to interface with. The BCI2000 does this by allowing specification from an operator to set the system parameters and execute the experiment with basic knowledge of the system’s programming details. The operator is then able to present all the results in real time as well as interface the BCI2000 development platform with multiple BCI projects.
 * __BCI2000 Background and Sustainability Contribution__**

The BCI2000 system requires a manufacturing process that is intended to minimize the number of the BCI system designs. Although this process includes manufacturing of electronic components that may be harmful to the environment, the diversity of the product’s potential applications allow for reuse of the system, which avoids the necessity to manufacture additional systems and minimizes the total number of electronic materials used.
 * __4E Sustainability Analysis__**[3]
 * Ecology**


 * Energy**

The BCI2000 system requires a computer powerful enough to implement crucial signal processing, as well as the energy to interface the computer with an application. Because this is a real time operating system design, the amount of power required for the application doesn’t require a large amount of standby power. The system only needs to be powered on when the subject is being tested, and is not yet intended use in regular day applications. The BCI2000 also significantly reduces the number of computing systems that would need to be designed for each individual test system by having one computer with the BCI2000 development environment on it with the ability to do all of the processing. Reducing the number of computers directly reduces the “significant energy use in the chain of production processes to make computers.” [5]


 * Economy**

The BCI2000 development platform is free for non-profit research and educational purposes. This system benefits students and researchers directly, and allows for a much more universal set of knowledge to be distributed within the community which decreases the cost of BCI knowledge for the greater population. The BCI2000 is an economical system by saving many additional hours of manpower for neuro-science researchers. The user friendly interface is designed for operators without large amounts of computer science programming experience, so a non-profit research firm wouldn’t need to go into the details of how the signals are process after they are digitized. The lack of required computer science knowledge saves the researchers the money they would need to hire a computer scientist of the hours they would need to understand and learn how the programming details work. The BCI2000 was designed for versatility, which provides an enormous benefit to any neuro-science research environment looking into conducting systematic studies which require multiple test setups. The ability to use one development platform for multiple projects allows them to run multiple projects at the same time, and allows for ease in user interface which simplifies the test procedures.

This system, as well as all most other BCI systems, directly benefits the disabled and the research directly correlated with new technologies. Most of the biomedical applications for BCI systems are geared towards benefiting the disabled, such as limb rehabilitation assistance, vision repair, and handicapped transportation devices. In the political sense several of the BCI products have not been approved by the government and are not yet ready for public use.
 * Social and Political Equity**

1. Engineer processes and products holistically, use systems analysis, and integrate environmental impact assessment tools. The BCI2000 development platform is designed using efficient systems analysis, by breaking down the system into 4 main modules. The first three modules are necessary for every BCI system, and the fourth module which is the operator interface sets the ‘system parameters’, which allows the operator to specify all of the system’s parameters with ease. 2. Conserve and improve natural ecosystems while protecting human health and well-being. The BCI2000 helps to conserve natural ecosystems by reducing the number of computers that are required for multiple BCI test systems. 3. Use life-cycle thinking in all engineering activities. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Life-cycle thinking is one of the main purposes of the development of the BCI2000, which intends to create development platforms that can be used multiple times with multiple projects and never be discarded. This design meets “the needs of the present generation, [and] does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” by providing a system that the future generations can continue to use. [3] <span style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">4. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ensure that all material and energy inputs and outputs are as inherently safe and benign as possible. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The BCI2000 provides for minimal use of computer systems (hardware), which reduces the amount of material and energy that would be required to acquire multiple computers. <span style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Minimize depletion of natural resources. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Natural resources that would be required for construction of additional computers are saved by creating the BCI2000, which only requires one computer for multiple test environments. <span style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">6. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Strive to prevent waste. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The reusability and versatility of the BCI2000 was the main goal when designing the system so that it will never need to be cast aside or thrown away. <span style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">7. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Develop and apply engineering solutions, while being cognizant of local geography, aspirations, and cultures. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The fact that the BC2000 development platform is an open source free platform available for all non-profit research and educational purposes makes it globally accessible. [3] <span style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">8. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Create engineering solutions beyond current or dominant technologies; improve, innovate, and invent (technologies) to achieve sustainability. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The design of a universal BCI system is making a huge push in the neuro-science world to increase the number of systematic studies in the area of BCI technology. [1] <span style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">9. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Actively engage communities and stakeholders in development of engineering solutions. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The entire BCI research and development community should engage in considering the use of the BCI2000 for their systematic studies, and the stakeholders of any non-research or educational organization are lucky to have such a valuable open source.
 * __Green Engineering Design Principles__**[3]

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">[1] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Gerwin Schalk, Dennis J. McFarland, Thilo Hinterberger, Niels Birbaumer, and Jonathan R. Wolpaw. "BCI2000: A General-Purpose Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) System," IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Vol 51, NO.6, June 2004, pg 1034 - 1042. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> A vailable: <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> [Accessed April 2011] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">[2] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Gerwin Schalk, Jonathan Wolpaw. "BCI2000," Home – NIH (NIBIB/NINDS) Bioengineering Research Partnership. [Online]. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> A vailable: <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> [Accessed April 2011] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">[3] <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">D. Braun. “Cal Poly’s wiki for Sustainability and ICs,” Available: <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[] <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> [Accessed April 2011] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">[4] <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">William McDonough, as quoted in “Waste = Food (An inspiring documentary on the Cradle to Cradle design concept)” Directed by Rob van Hattum, VPRO, The Netherlands, 2006. Available:[]. [Accessed September 1, 2008] Or []. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">[5] <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">E. Williams, “Environmental impacts in the production of personal computers,” in Computers and the Environment: Understanding and Managing Their Impacts, R. Kuehr and E. Williams, Eds. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003, pp. 41-72.
 * __References__**