Un sistema per la elaborazione di dati biomedici

The system for processing biomedical data, developed and realized at the Istituto di Elaborazione dell'Informazione or the National Council of the Research (C.N.R.) - Pisa, is described. Signai processing is in two steps: in the first one analog signal, as recorded on magnetic tape during experiments, are preprocessed and converted in digital form: in the second one the digital data so obtained, and stored on paper or magnetic tape, are processed on a general purpose computer. The first step is carried out on an hybrid special purpose computer (EL.D.A), which performs A/D conversion and some analog and digital operations. The analog operations are: linear and non linear amplification and band filtering: the digital ones are: averaging, time and amplitude hystograms. The special purpose handles signals from DC up to 5 KHz, and accepts a repetition rate of input spike-wise signals up to 4 KHz. When the computer acts as an A/D converter the digital data are stored on a digital magnetic tape without interrupting the sampling process. When spike-wise signals are processed both the amplitude and the time coordinate are converted and stored in digital form. The system has been used for processign EEG, EMG and data concerning the autonomic nervous system.