CMOS Transceiver for Wireless Medical Implants

In late 2005 the section was granted a project funded by the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation where the section should conduct research in the area of a wireless transceiver to be used as a medical implant. The project is a joint project with the Sensory-Motor Interaction Center at AAU and the company Neurodan. The overall goal of the TPS part of the project is to develop a CMOS IC transceiver which is implantable into humans and which can communicate with an external transceiver. The interface of the transmitter is expected to be I/Q signals which will be filtered, up-converted and amplitude adjusted for signal transmission. At the receiver side an "antenna" will receive the signal, filter it, down-convert and amplify it. The analog-to-digital and vice versa conversion is expected to be part of a DSP chip which is not part of our activity. The transceiver chip will not contain any battery or other independent power generating device. Power will be transferred from the outside to the implant by electromagnetic energy that will be extracted in the implant - this power device may be part of the transceiver chip depending on the system design choices made. Making specifications for the chip in cooperation with Neurodan and SMI is also part of the project. The scientific challenges are e.g. to use low power, have high reliability, be robust towards variation in supply voltage, and be robust against interference.