WAND: A 128-channel, closed-loop, wireless artifact-free neuromodulation device

Abstract: Closed-loop neuromodulation systems aim to treat a variety of neurological conditions by dynamically delivering and adjusting therapeutic electrical stimulation in response to a patient's neural state, recorded in real-time. Existing systems are limited by low channel counts, lack of algorithmic flexibility, and distortion of recorded signals from large, persistent stimulation artifacts. Here, we describe a device that enables new research applications requiring high-throughput data streaming, low-latency biosignal processing, and truly simultaneous sensing and stimulation. The Wireless Artifact-free Neuromodulation Device (WAND) is a miniaturized, wireless neural interface capable of recording and stimulating on 128 channels with on-board processing to fully cancel stimulation artifacts, detect neural biomarkers, and automatically adjust stimulation parameters in a closed-loop fashion. It combines custom application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), an on-board FPGA, and a low-power bidirectional radio. We validate wireless, long-term recordings of local field potentials (LFP) and real-time cancellation of stimulation artifacts in a behaving nonhuman primate (NHP). We use WAND to demonstrate a closed-loop stimulation paradigm to disrupt movement preparatory activity during a delayed-reach task in a NHP in vivo. This wireless device, leveraging custom ASICs for both neural recording and electrical stimulation modalities, makes possible a neural interface platform technology to significantly advance both neuroscientific discovery and preclinical investigations of stimulation-based therapeutic interventions.