Introduction:
Since some years ago, there has been a close collaboration among researchers of the UPCT and Tutelary Association of the Disabled in Cartagena to carry out jointly some research work in the field of Assessment and Recovery of Functionalities and Skills, the development of advanced technical help for the sociolaboural integration of disabled people, and the systems for autonomy and accessibility.

This relationship ended up in the promotion and constitution -between both institutions- of the Foundation for Engineering Studies Applied to the Integration of the Disabled (FEID), registered as non-commercial in the Registry of Foundations of the Region of Murcia (reg. Mu.1-31) and whose main goal is the organization of research and educational activities towards the social-professional integration and social understanding of disabilities and the third age. Besides this main goal: offering advice to institutions and associations, as well as to the industry in general (regarding the adaptation of their products to norms of the European Union through the "Design For All" initiative). One of the first activities of the FEID has been the opening of the Center of Applied Biomedical Engineering for the Integration of the Disabled (CIBID), a building of about 1,500 m2 with five R&D laboratories, which was inaugurated in Summer 2008 by the Regional President, Mr. Ramón Luís Valcárcel Siso. This inauguration culminated the long process started through the decision to promote the Foundation and the Research Center.

As indicated by its philosophy and equipment, the CIBID was born with the resolved vocation of effectively supporting the technological, scientific and innovative areas of:

• The Technical Aids Industry and Rehabilitation Technology
• Companies, in other sectors (industrial or "mass-oriented") that may need advice, evaluation and certification in Accessibility, Usability and "Design for All"
• Institutions, Ministries, Councils and Organizations depending either on the Regional Government (Education, Employment, Industry, Health, Research, etc...) or on the Central Government or the EU, that may profit from such equipment and the knowledge and solutions that the daily activity generates.
• The Disability Sector and related associations at a national or international level
• Old people with a disability who need technical assistance (as a Social Service and / or through Volunteering)

Research lines The CIBID has FIVE organized sections of Research in R&D laboratories:

R&D1: Accessible Software and IT: The work of this research unit is oriented towards Software development and covering the needs of the other R&D labs.

R&D2: Evaluation, usability and "design for all": this research unit works in the following environments: evaluation of dysfunctionalities and skills; accessibility studies, usability of technical aids, tools and equipment for the daily life and autonomy and adaptation to "Design for All".

R&D3: Technical aids and rehabilitation: This unit orients its activity towards the development and optimization of technical aids and equipment and development of rehabilitation techniques (because of which it works in cooperation with R&D4).

R&D4: Biosignals and Biofeedback: This R&D lab supports the other laboratories, regarding Biosignal reception and characterization techniques (and their use in dysfunctionality evaluation and prosthesis control) and also regarding the evaluation of somato-physiologic and biometric characteristics of study subjects. This unit not only has equipment available from the research groups involved, but also very advanced instrumentation of its own.

R&D5: Labor Integration: This Research Unit will be dedicated to the design of adapted work-places and to the development of resources for the implementation of the so-called "Labor Sites" - a procedure committed to overcome employers' ignorance and possible lack of confidence (eventually that of other workers) which causes the undesirable refusal to recruit disabled employees.

Facilities and Equipment In R&D1:

• Six work stations for Programming Design
• A work station for Graphic Design of User Interfaces and Web Pages.

In R&D2:

• Usability Evaluation System (Jazz-Novo), able to monitor ocular movements, look direction, position and acceleration of the head, oxygen content in blood, pulse measurement. galvanic resistance of the skin, recording of field of vision and sound. It's equipped with an RF interface, for both "static" and ambulatory applications
• Evaluation and monitoring of human movement (Biosmart system) with the capacity to measure acceleration-position, with RF interface, for static and ambulatory applications. Current capacity of 3 X 3 axes expandable to 18 x 3 axes
• Measurement and presentation software using "Wire Models"
• Software for the evaluation and adaptation of technical aids through "Follow-up Tasks."
• Kit - Tool for usability evaluation in computer access
• Observation Room for usability.

In R&D3:

• Advanced system for the development of fibre-optic sensors
• Development systems for PIC microcontrollers
• Development system of alternative access USB peripherals
• Multifunctional equipment of general instrumentation (Sources, digital oscilloscopes, generators, spectrometers and analyzers, frequency metres, Logic Probes, multimeters, etc.).
• Welding station using SMD Leadless technology

In R&D4:

• Large Faraday Cage of about 14 M3,-- allowing for the precise and safe reception of Biosignals for Research--(having the capacity to work with subjects on wheelchairs or stretchers and during the use of specific machines and dysfunctionalities evaluation devices, and even during rehabilitation exercises and / or the check-up of workstations).
• Automatic system capable of switching off ---during measurement--the fluorescent lighting of the whole wing of the laboratories building and of replacing it with another incandescent one with less interferences.
• Brain-Computer Interface System of 64 channels from Guger Technologies OEG for the simultaneous acquisition of 64 electroencephalographic derivations, and their on-line processing, by means of analysis and characterization algorithms implemented in real time. Useful for the determination of patterns of cerebral activity, both in applications of prosthesis control and access to the computer, and in cognitive measurement evaluations. Developed by the Institute of Medical Technology (Graz)
• Stimuli Generation Unit of 16 channels from Guger Technologies OEG (Ref g.STIMunit). Useful for the generation of different training paradigms for the development of prosthesis control applications. This unit allows for the generation of multimodal stimuli (visual, auditory and tactile) for its application in the design of rehabilitation systems based on biofeedback and in the development of sensorial substitution systems.
• Unit of Ambulatory Data Acquisition from Guger Technologies OEG. It allows for ambulatory registration during prolonged periods, which is required to complete the diagnosis tests and to analyze the use of technical aids developed in the daily life of subjects under study.
• Unit for the Extraction of Evoked and Electromiographic Potentials from Nihon Kohden. This equipment is a complete EP/EMG analysis and measurement system under Windows. The main system unit is connected to a portable PC (USB port) for high-speed data transmission. The main unit integrates the amplifiers, all auditory, electric and visual stimulators, as well as the functions, in a dedicated operation panel. The standard software integrated in the system includes modules of somato-sensorial, auditory and visual evoked potentials, as well as EMG software. This system has a great design flexibility, satisfying a wide variety of necessities.
• Programmable Attenuation System for audiometry allowing for the extraction of Stationary Evoked Potentials (ASSR) and audiometries in multi-frequency mode, together with the Brain-Computer Interface of 64 channels from Guger Technologies. It is a G.PAH unit from the g.Tec company of Graz, Austria.
• System for the calibration, diagnosis, and self-maintenance of the Nihon Khoden 9204b system and the Brain-Computer Interface from G.Tec, in order to decrease exploitation costs and to avoid external dependences.

In R&D5:

• This unit has only recently begun to be equipped, because it needs a special and global treatment. It was decided to postpone the acquisition of the bulk of the equipment until having finished the remaining units. Nevertheless, the design and adaptation of some work stations has already been accomplished, as well as the project and follow-up of a Labor Site.