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Synchron, a New York startup that makes a brain-computer interface, or BCI, similar to Neuralink’s, said Wednesday it had received the FDA’s permission to test its brain device in human patients in what’s known as an early feasibility study.

Synchron’s implantable device, called Stentrode, is smaller than a matchstick. Unlike Neuralink’s “Link” device that requires drilling a two-millimeter hole in the patient’s skull to install, Stentrode is small enough to be implanted via a blood vessel at the base of the neck. The device will then be maneuvered toward a vessel in the brain.

Stentrode works by communicating through a tiny wire with a second implant in the chest. A transmitter then sends signals to an external computer near the patient.