DARPA wants to create an advanced brain-computer interface

The Agency for Advanced Defense Research Projects (DARPA) announced the launch of a program aimed at developing a high-tech implant capable of creating a kind of communication bridge between the human brain and biocompatible devices. The agency hopes that the development of such a technology within the framework of the Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program will receive a very wide range of applications both in research projects and in medicine.

While computers continue to evolve in huge strides, mankind has not yet developed a system that can truly interact with all the abilities of the human brain. The DARPA program is aimed at addressing this issue and, if successfully implemented, will significantly enhance the scope of the neurotechnology.

"Today's best representatives of computer-brain interface technologies are more like how two supercomputers try to communicate with each other via an old 300-modem," says Philip Alveld, NESD program manager.

"Just imagine what will open up to us if we can modernize the channel of communication between the human brain and modern electronics."

Currently used neurointerfaces in a variety of research programs have to compress a huge amount of information and distribute its transmission over a hundred channels, each of which receives sensory information sent by tens of thousands of neurons. Not surprisingly, this does not lead to outstanding results at all, and the information transmitted is often subject to external noise, which reduces its accuracy.

DARPA believes that the next generation of neurointerfaces will be much more accurate and ultimately lead to the development of implantable systems of neural transmission channels that will be capable of receiving data from one million neurons and at the same time not exceeding one cubic centimeter in size.

The difficulties that will be encountered in developing such interfaces, including the complexity of research and design of the final design of such devices, are phenomenal. According to the agency, to address these issues will require a serious technological breakthrough in several different scientific fields, from synthetic biology and neurobiology to development in the field of low-power electronics. Researchers of the NESD project will work on the development of new sophisticated methods intended for transcoding electromechanical signals of brain neurons and transferring them with the greatest possible accuracy to computer systems.

If the program proves its validity, then we will have a wide range of potential applications for these technologies. We are waiting for amazing discoveries in neurotechnologies. The sensory information collected by the implants can be used, for example, to develop new technologies that will improve the hearing and vision of patients, and develop new methods for treating various diseases.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/technology/darpa-xochet-sozdat-prodvinutyj-nejrointerfejs-mozg-kompyuter.html.