NeTS: Small: Toward Wirelessly Rechargeable And Ultrasonically-networked Implantable Systems

Northeastern University, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

The research objective of this project is to develop the foundations for a new family of Micro-electromechanical System (MEMS)-based miniaturized wireless implants that are networked and recharged through ultrasonic waves. The availability of low-energy micro-implants that communicate through low-power ultrasonic communications will enable real-time wireless telemetry and re-programmability while minimally affecting the implant battery life. Moreover, ultrasonic wireless battery charging could virtually eliminate the battery life constraint from the design of medical implants. For example, according to recent studies, 9% of patients experienced complications following a cardiac battery replacement. Lower power consumption and wireless battery charging would reduce these risks, as well as replacement costs. The team will collaborate with leading clinical experts to apply the proposed technology to different devices in the medical field. The project will support and train two graduate students who will become experts in the intra-body ultrasonic networking technology and its applications. The project will be articulated into several basic research tasks, and revolve around an underlying effort to design and develop a miniaturized flexible sensing, processing, and networking platform (u-mote). The u-mote will be built by integrating miniaturized low-power FPGAs and microcontrollers to offer hardware and software re-programmability. The project will first seek to design new arrays of micro-machined ultrasonic Aluminum Nitride (AlN) MEMS transducers with bandwidth larger than 1 MHz offering focusing and beamforming capabilities. The ultrasonic communication interface will implement state-of-the-art communication and networking schemes that are fully software-defined and composable through a set of modular libraries. Finally, the u-mote will have new MEMS-based energy harvesting and ultrasonic wireless recharging capabilities, and a novel zero-standby-power wake-up interface.