# IFIANet: Frequency Attention Network for Time–Frequency in sEMG-Based Motion Intent Recognition

## TL;DR

This paper introduces IFIANet, a deep learning model that improves the accuracy of predicting movement intentions using sEMG signals for exoskeleton systems.

## Contribution

The novel IFIA module integrates global frequency information to enhance feature robustness in sEMG-based motion intent recognition.

## Key findings

- IFIANet achieves over 82% average recognition accuracy in within-experiment tests with nine participants.
- The model maintains stable performance across different prediction times.
- The framework effectively combines local temporal–frequency features with global frequency priors.

## Abstract

Lower limb exoskeleton systems require accurate recognition of the wearer’s movement intentions prior to action execution in order to achieve natural and smooth human–machine interaction. Surface electromyography (sEMG) signals can reflect neural activation of muscles before movement onset, making them a key physiological source for movement intention recognition. To improve sEMG-based recognition performance, this study proposes an innovative deep learning framework, IFIANet. First, a CNN–TCN-based spatiotemporal feature learning network is constructed, which efficiently models and represents multi-scale temporal–frequency features while effectively reducing model parameter complexity. Second, an IFIA (Frequency-Informed Integration Attention) module is designed to incorporate global frequency information, compensating for frequency components potentially lost during time–frequency transformations, thereby enhancing the discriminability and robustness of temporal–frequency features. Extensive ablation and comparative experiments on the publicly available MyPredict1 dataset demonstrate that the proposed framework maintains stable performance across different prediction times and achieves over 82% average recognition accuracy in within-experiments involving nine participants. The results indicate that IFIANet effectively fuses local temporal–frequency features with global frequency priors, providing an efficient and reliable approach for sEMG-based movement intention recognition and intelligent control of exoskeleton systems.