Low cost general-purpose microcontroller based multi-channel neuromuscular stimulator

Abstract A constant current stimulator for high-impedance loads using a microcontroller is presented. The designed muscle stimulator has the advantage that all the parameters such as amplitude, duration and time period can be adjusted. It can give up to eight independent channels of output at a time with adjustable parameters. It has got the advantage of having a user-friendly interface. The facility for storing the stimulation parameters and making it available for future reference has made. A prototype produces stimulus of amplitude and pulsewidth within 0 ≤ Iskin ≥ 20 mA and 1 ms ≤ Tpulse ≥ 250 ms, respectively. Pulse-repetition spans from 0.1–1000 Hz. Worst case ripple is less than 3% at Iskin = 1 mA. Maximum power consumption is 6.5 W per channel at Iskin = 20 mA.

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