A Simple Design of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy System

With the development in last twenty years, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive brain imaging technique which widely used in cognitive neuroscience studies. Based on mechanism of neurovascular coupling, increased functional neural activities in brain induce higher regional cerebral blood flow, which will cause relative concentration change of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin. In this paper, a single channel continuous wave fNIRS system based on multi-function data acquisition board was proposed. With the benefits of narrow spectral peaks and low divergence, laser diodes provided a better accuracy for measurement with optimal dual-wavelength of 690 and 830 nm. Frequency multiplexing technique was used to distinguish light sources from different emitters, and remove environmental stable interference sources such as ambient light and line power noise as well. LabVIEW was used to design graphical user interface with functionalities including source sequence schedule, auto gain setting, digital in-phase and quadrature demodulation, data visualization and storage. The experimental results during holding breath and mental arithmetic task indicated that our system was capable of monitoring regional concentration change of hemoglobin in real time, and detecting activation associated with advanced brain functions.