A supervised feature-projection-based real-time EMG pattern recognition for multifunction myoelectric hand control

Electromyographic (EMG) pattern recognition is essential for the control of a multifunction myoelectric hand. The main goal of this study was to develop an efficient feature-projection method for EMG pattern recognition. To this end, a linear supervised feature projection is proposed that utilizes a linear discriminant analysis (LDA). First, a wavelet packet transform (WPT) is performed to extract a feature vector from four-channel EMG signals. To dimensionally reduce and cluster the WPT features, an LDA, then, incorporates class information into the learning procedure, and identifies a linear matrix to maximize the class separability for the projected features. Finally, a multilayer perceptron classifies the LDA-reduced features into nine hand motions. To evaluate the performance of the LDA for WPT features, the LDA is compared with three other feature-projection methods. From a visualization and quantitative comparison, it is shown that the LDA produces a better performance for the class separability, plus the LDA-projected features improve the classification accuracy with a short processing time. A real-time pattern-recognition system is then implemented for a multifunction myoelectric hand. Experiments show that the proposed method achieves a 97.4% recognition accuracy, and all processes, including the generation of control commands for the myoelectric hand, are completed within 97 ms. Consequently, these results confirm that the proposed method is applicable to real-time EMG pattern recognition for multifunction myoelectric hand control.