This Bachelor lecture teaches the basics of programming in the C programming language. Despite its long history, C is still one of the most widespread and important programming languages today, especially for system-oriented programming. It is easy to learn but difficult to master, as it contains only a few keywords and concepts, but these can be used to emulate many modern programming techniques.

In detail, it covers:

• General concepts of programming languages
• Variables and types in C
• Operators and expressions
• Control structures and functions
• The preprocessor
• Pointers
• Static and dynamic memory management
• Error handling
• Bit manipulation
• Modules and abstract data types
• Unit testing and test-driven development in C.

Please note that this is not a lecture on the basics of programming. The lecture builds on the courses "Grundlegende Programmiertechniken" and "Fortgeschrittene Programmiertechniken", i.e. basic programming knowledge (e.g. variables and types, loops, subroutines and recursion) and basic knowledge of data structures and algorithms are assumed.

As part of this practical project, students are to optimise the methods for neurosignal processing of extracellular action potentials, which are recorded using microelectrode arrays.

A Python framework already exists for this purpose, which is to be expanded with additional functions for AI-based methods, additional functions for synthetic data generation and for neuronal data analysis (incl. representation). For this purpose, the classification tasks are to be validated using deep learning techniques and with neuromorphic networks via spiking neural networks. In addition, there is the possibility to further optimise the internal hardware setup for the playback of neurosignals from digital source to analogue signal.

Possible subjects:

• Data set creation with MEArec
• Data analysis with MEAnalyzer
• Preparation of data sets for autoencoder training (Dense NN, CNN, Denoising, ...)
• Use of the elasticAI.Creator to generate neural networks
• Use of neuromorphic networks
• Preparing the Neurosignal Player (C code for playing the signals)

Organisation:

Attendance at the kick-off meeting is mandatory for participation in this project.