GRADIENT ASCENT INDEPENDENT COMPONENT ANALYSIS ALGORITHM FOR TELECOMMUNICATION SIGNALS

Our goal is to develop a novel BCI based on an eye movements system employing EEG signals on-line. Most of the analysis on EEG signals has been performed using ensemble averaging approaches. However,It is suitable to analyze raw EEG signals in signal processing methods for BCI. In order to process raw EEG signals, we used independent component analysis(ICA). However, we do not know which ICA algorithms have good performance. It is important to check which ICA algorithms have good performance to develop BCIs. Previous paper presented extraction rate of saccade-related EEG signals by five ICA algorithms and eight window size. However, three ICA algorithms, the FastICA, the NG-FICA and the JADE algorithms, are based on 4th order statistic and AMUSE algorithm has an improved algorithm named SOBI.Therefore, we must re-select ICA algorithms. In this paper, we add new algorithms; the SOBI and the MILCA. The SOBI is an improved algorithm based on the AMUSE and uses at least two covariance matrices at different time steps. The MILCA use the independency based on mutual information. Using the Fast ICA, the JADE, the AMUSE, the SOBI, and the MILCA, we extract saccade-related EEG signals and check extracting rates. Secondly, in order to get more robustness against EOG noise, we use improved FastICA with reference signals and check extracting rates.

The impact of outliers on signal separation performance of an independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm is an important factor when selecting an ICA algorithm. If an ICA estimator has the property of B-robustness, the influence of an extreme point is bounded, leading to good separation performance in the presence of outliers. Since this property is binary, it does not give the degree of influence an outlier has on the separation performance. To address this issue, a Mamdani-type fuzzy inference, based on the location of a potential outlier and on the skewness of the data set, has been developed. It creates an outlier sensitivity map for an ICA algorithm. The implication of this work is a criterion to switch from one ICA algorithm to another in real time, as determined by the algorithms sensitivity to the data set under consideration. This paper describes estimation of the outlier impact on the separation performance of the non-B-robust FastICA algorithm using a Mamdani-type fuzzy inference. In simulations with data sets contaminated by outliers, the FastICA sensitivity map resembles the separation performance measured by the Amari performance index.

The higher-order statistics based independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm can extract natural image features. Based on the maximum likelihood ICA criterion, and using the weighted orthogonal constrained natural gradient, a new ICA algorithm is proposed. Natural image feature extraction simulation results show that, compared with other ICA algorithms, the proposed algorithm has faster convergence rate, most of the extracted basis vectors are localized in space, frequency, and orientation, which can describe the features of the natural images well, and the corresponding coefficients are very sparse, obey stronger super-Gaussian distribution with very high kurtosis.

Independent Component Analysis, a computationally efficient blind statistical signal processing technique, has been an area of interest for researchers for many practical applications in various fields of science and engineering. The present paper attempts to treat the fundamental concepts involved in the independent component analysis (ICA) technique and reviews different ICA algorithms. A thorough discussion of the algorithms with their merits and weaknesses has been carried out. Applications of the ICA algorithms in different fields of science and technology have been reviewed. The limitations and ambiguities of the ICA techniques developed so far have also been outlined. Though several articles have reviewed the ICA techniques in literature, they suffer from the limitation of not being comprehensive to a first time reader or not incorporating the latest available algorithm and their applications. In this work, we present different ICA algorithms from their basics to their potential applications to serve as a comprehensive single source for an inquisitive researcher to carry out his work in this field.

In special application scenarios, such as portable anesthesia depth monitoring, portable emotional state recognition and portable sleep monitoring, electroencephalogram (EEG) signal acquisition equipment is required to be convenient and easy to use. It is difficult to remove electrooculogram (EOG) artifacts when the number of EEG acquisition channels is small, especially when the number of observed signals is less than that of the source signals, and the overcomplete problem will arise. The independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm commonly used for artifact removal requires the number of basis vectors to be smaller than the dimension of the input data due to a set of standard orthonormal bases learned during the convergence process, so it cannot be used to solve the overcomplete problem. The empirical mode decomposition method decomposes the signal into several independent intrinsic mode functions so that the number of observed signals is more than that of the source signals, solving the overcomplete problem. However, when using this method to solve overcompleteness, the modal aliasing problem will arise, which is caused by abnormal events such as sharp signals, impulse interference, and noise. Aiming at the above problems, we propose a novel EEG artifact removal method based on discrete wavelet transform, complete empirical mode decomposition for adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) and ICA in this paper. First, the input signals are transformed by discrete wavelet (DWT), and then CEEMDAN is used to solve the overcomplete and mode aliasing problems, meeting the a priori conditions of the ICA algorithm. Finally, the components belonging to EOG artifacts are removed according to the sample entropy value of each independent component. Experiments show that this method can effectively remove EOG artifacts while solving the overcomplete and modal aliasing problems.

As an important factor in the fast fixed-point algorithm of independent component analysis (ICA), noise has a significant influence on the separate performance of ICA. Unfortunately, the traditional algorithm of noisy ICA did not address the influence of impulsive components. Because the sources were signals mixed with impulsive noise, the Gaussian noisy algorithm will be invalid for separating the sources. In general, those measurements that significantly deviate from the normal pattern of sensed data are considered impulses. In this paper, we introduce a non-linear function based on the S-estimator to identify the impulsive components in the observed data. This approach guarantees that the impulse noise can be detected from the observed signal. Furthermore, a threshold for the impulse components and methods to remove impulse noise and reconstruct the signal is proposed. The proposed technique improves the separate performance of the traditional algorithm for Gaussian noisy ICA. With the proposed method, the fast fixed-point algorithm of ICA is more reliable for noisy situations. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Current analytical techniques applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data require a priori knowledge or specific assumptions about the time courses of processes contributing to the measured signals. Here we describe a new method for analyzing fMRI data based on the independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm of Bell and Sejnowski ([1995]: Neural Comput 7:1129-1159). We decomposed eight fMRI data sets from 4 normal subjects performing Stroop color-naming, the Brown and Peterson work/number task, and control tasks into spatially independent components. Each component consisted of voxel values at fixed three-dimensional locations (a component "map"), and a unique associated time course of activation. Given data from 144 time points collected during a 6-min trial, ICA extracted an equal number of spatially independent components. In all eight trials, ICA derived one and only one component with a time course closely matching the time course of 40-sec alternations between experimental and control tasks. The regions of maximum activity in these consistently task-related components generally overlapped active regions detected by standard correlational analysis, but included frontal regions not detected by correlation. Time courses of other ICA components were transiently task-related, quasiperiodic, or slowly varying. By utilizing higher-order statistics to enforce successively stricter criteria for spatial independence between component maps, both the ICA algorithm and a related fourth-order decomposition technique (Comon [1994]: Signal Processing 36:11-20) were superior to principal component analysis (PCA) in determining the spatial and temporal extent of task-related activation. For each subject, the time courses and active regions of the task-related ICA components were consistent across trials and were robust to the addition of simulated noise. Simulated movement artifact and simulated task-related activations added to actual fMRI data were clearly separated by the algorithm. ICA can be used to distinguish between nontask-related signal components, movements, and other artifacts, as well as consistently or transiently task-related fMRI activations, based on only weak assumptions about their spatial distributions and without a priori assumptions about their time courses. ICA appears to be a highly promising method for the analysis of fMRI data from normal and clinical populations, especially for uncovering unpredictable transient patterns of brain activity associated with performance of psychomotor tasks.

The performance of a conventional single user DS-CDMA receiver is severely limited by multiple access interference (MAI) and near---far effects. This severity has motivated research into adaptive filtering, near---far resistant detectors and power control strategies for DS-CDMA systems. In this paper, we propose a near---far resistant detector based on independent component analysis (ICA) of the received signal. Since ICA is a blind technique, the proposed ICA based detector has the potential to combat the near---far problem. The ICA is a higher order statistical technique based on the assumption of independence of source signals. The assumptions in ICA algorithm are the realistic conditions in a DS-CDMA system and therefore ICA algorithm can be applied successfully to detect the signal of the desired user. The focus of this paper is to illustrate the near---far resistance capability of the ICA based detector. Simulation studies performed on the proposed detector show that it is resistant to the near-far problem and has low bit error rate.

We apply the independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm to uncover intrinsic noise in the beam position monitor (BPM) system. Numerical simulations found that ICA is efficient in the BPM noise estimation. The ICA algorithm is applied to the turn-by-turn data at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. We found the distribution of the BPM noise level, which is consistent with the Johnson-Nyquist thermal noise model. The ICA analysis of turn-by-turn data can be used in neuronetwork feasibility of monitoring a storage ring parasitically.

Recent research has resulted in development of number of different Independent Component Analysis (ICA) technique. While there are some researchers who have compared their techniques with the existing methods for audio examples, there is no comparison of performance between ICA algorithms for biosignal applications. With ICA being the feasible method for source separation and decomposition of biosignals, it is important to compare the different techniques and determine the most suitable method for the applications. This paper presents the performance of five ICA algorithms (SOBI, TDSEP, FastICA, JADE and Infomax) for decomposition of surface electromyogram (sEMG) to identify subtle wrist actions.

Two distinct topics are dealt with. First, a new method for independent component analysis (ICA) has been constructed that exploits the invariance of criteria under component-wise scaling, which is intrinsic to ICA. This practical and simple ICA method is called the nested Newton's method. When the number of the channel of observation is less than a certain level, factor analysis (FA) is ineffective (bound for FA). The target of this paper is these cases. Three of many concrete advantages of the nested Newton's method are addressed. i) It is robust against Gaussian noise and outperforms existing methods, such as JADE and Fast ICA, especially under Gaussian noise conditions. ii) It is highly stable globally. iii) Each step resolves itself into two-dimensional (2-D) matrix problems. There is thus no need to deal with gigantic matrices, which means that fewer computational resources are required. Second, a method called "post factor analysis (post-FA)" is described that is aimed to be useful as post-processing for ICA. Although it is functionally similar to conventional FA, post-FA is a completely new method and is more powerful than conventional FA in compensation for its stronger assumption that there are mutually independent sources behind observations. By fully making use of this assumption, post-FA is capable of estimating the noise variance beyond the known limit for FA. Furthermore, it improves the accuracy of ICA to a considerable extent. Any ICA algorithm without prewhitening (pre-WH) or pre-factor-analysis (pre-FA) can be used for preprocessing, although the nested method is a good candidate.

When the independent sources are known to be nonnegative and well-grounded, which means that they have a non-zero pdf in the region of zero, a few nonnegative independent component analysis (ICA) algorithms have been proposed to separate these positive sources. In this paper, by using the property of skew-symmetry matrix, rigorous convergence proof of a nonnegative ICA algorithm on Stiefel manifold is given. And sufficient convergence conditions are presented. Simulations are employed to confirm our convergence theory. Our techniques may be useful to analyze general ICA algorithms on Stiefel manifold.

An adaptive system for Electroencephalography (EEG) artefact rejection and Electrooculogrum (EOG) gaze estimation is proposed. The system inputs optical gaze information, and accuracy of the EOG gaze classification into an adaptive Independent Component Analysis (ICA) algorithm, for improving EEG source separation. Finally two evaluation methods based on EOG gaze estimation are suggested to assess the performance of the proposed system. The work will be of use to researchers considering using BCI and eye-tracking paradigms in real life applications.KeywordsEEGArtefactAdaptive ICABCIGaze

In the last years Independent Component Analysis (ICA) has been applied with success in signal processing and many algorithms have been developed in order to perform ICA. In this paper we review some algorithms, like INFOMAX (Bell and Sejnowski 1995), extended-INFOMAX (Lee, Girolami and Sejniowski 1997), FastICA (OjA, and Hyvarinen 1999), that solve the ICA problem under the assumption of the linear mixture model. We also show an overview of the nonlinear ICA algorithms and we discuss the MISEP (Almeida 2003). In order to test the performances of the reviewed algorithms, we present some applications of ICA in biomedical signal processing. In particular the application of ICA to the electroencephalographic (EEG) and surface electromyographic (sEMG) recordings are shown.

Electrocardiographic (ECG) signals are affected by several kinds of artifacts that may hide vital signs of interest. In this study we apply independent component analysis (ICA) to isolate motion artifacts. Standard or instantaneous ICA, which is currently the most addressed ICA model within the context of artifact removal, is compared to two other ICA techniques. The first technique is a frequency domain approach to convolutive mixture separation. The second is based on temporally constrained ICA, which enables the estimation of only one component close to a particular reference signal. Performance indexes evaluate ECG complex enhancement and relevant heart rate errors. Our results show that both convolutive and constrained ICA implementations perform better than standard ICA, thus opening up a new field of application for these two methods. Moreover, statistical analysis reveals that constrained ICA and convolutive ICA do not significantly differ concerning heart rate estimation, even though the latter overcomes the former in ECG morphology recovery.