A Cloud-Aware Scalable Architecture for Distributed Edge-Enabled BCI Biosensor System

BCI biosensors enable continuous monitoring of neural activity, but existing systems face challenges in scalability, latency, and reliable integration with cloud infrastructure. This work presents a cloud-aware, real-time cognitive grid architecture for multimodal BCI biosensors, validated at the system level through a full physical prototype. The system integrates the BioAmp EXG Pill for signal acquisition with an RP2040 microcontroller for local preprocessing using edge-resident TinyML deployment for on-device feature/inference feasibility coupled with environmental context sensors to augment signal context for downstream analytics talking to the external world via Wi-Fi/4G connectivity. A tiered data pipeline was implemented: SD card buffering for raw signals, Redis for near-real-time streaming, PostgreSQL for structured analytics, and AWS S3 with Glacier for long-term archival. End-to-end validation demonstrated consistent edge-level inference with bounded latency, while cloud-assisted telemetry and analytics exhibited variable transmission and processing delays consistent with cellular connectivity and serverless execution characteristics; packet loss remained below 5%. Visualization was achieved through Python 3.10 using Matplotlib GUI, Grafana 10.2.3 dashboards, and on-device LCD displays. Hybrid deployment strategies-local development, simulated cloud testing, and limited cloud usage for benchmark capture-enabled cost-efficient validation while preserving architectural fidelity and latency observability. The results establish a scalable, modular, and energy-efficient biosensor framework, providing a foundation for advanced analytics and translational BCI applications to be explored in subsequent work, with explicit consideration of both edge-resident TinyML inference and cloud-based machine learning workflows.

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Publication Details

Journal
Biosensors
Published
2026-03-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16030157
Primary Topic
EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

A Cloud-Aware Scalable Architecture for Distributed Edge-Enabled BCI Biosensor System

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A Cloud-Aware Scalable Architecture for Distributed Edge-Enabled BCI Biosensor System

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article en

Abstract

BCI biosensors enable continuous monitoring of neural activity, but existing systems face challenges in scalability, latency, and reliable integration with cloud infrastructure. This work presents a cloud-aware, real-time cognitive grid architecture for multimodal BCI biosensors, validated at the system level through a full physical prototype. The system integrates the BioAmp EXG Pill for signal acquisition with an RP2040 microcontroller for local preprocessing using edge-resident TinyML deployment for on-device feature/inference feasibility coupled with environmental context sensors to augment signal context for downstream analytics talking to the external world via Wi-Fi/4G connectivity. A tiered data pipeline was implemented: SD card buffering for raw signals, Redis for near-real-time streaming, PostgreSQL for structured analytics, and AWS S3 with Glacier for long-term archival. End-to-end validation demonstrated consistent edge-level inference with bounded latency, while cloud-assisted telemetry and analytics exhibited variable transmission and processing delays consistent with cellular connectivity and serverless execution characteristics; packet loss remained below 5%. Visualization was achieved through Python 3.10 using Matplotlib GUI, Grafana 10.2.3 dashboards, and on-device LCD displays. Hybrid deployment strategies-local development, simulated cloud testing, and limited cloud usage for benchmark capture-enabled cost-efficient validation while preserving architectural fidelity and latency observability. The results establish a scalable, modular, and energy-efficient biosensor framework, providing a foundation for advanced analytics and translational BCI applications to be explored in subsequent work, with explicit consideration of both edge-resident TinyML inference and cloud-based machine learning workflows.

BiosensorsVol. 16(3)
Semmelweis University (HU), Nanyang Technological University (SG), PSG Institute of Medical Sciences & Research (IN), Karolinska Institutet (SE), Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab (FR), Vellore Institute of Technology University (IN)
Semmelweis Egyetem, Magyarország Kormánya, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Research Centre, Nanyang Technological University
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Openalex Percentile: Top 27%
EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces
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