Abstract
Low-invasive and battery-less implantable medical devices (IMDs) have been increasingly emerging in recent years. The developed solutions in the literature often concentrate on the Bidirectional Data-Link for long-term monitoring devices. Indeed, their ability to collect data and communicate them to the external world, namely Data Up-Link, has revealed a promising solution for bioelectronic medicine. Furthermore, the capacity to control organs such as the brain, nerves, heart-beat and gastrointestinal activities, made up through the manipulation of electrical transducers, could optimise therapeutic protocols and help patients’ pain relief. These kinds of stimulations come from the modulation of a powering signal generated from an externally placed unit coupled to the implanted receivers for power/data exchanging. The established communication is also defined as a Data Down-Link. In this framework, a new solution of the Binary Phase-Shift Keying (BPSK) demodulator is presented in this paper in order to design a robust, low-area, and low-power Down-Link for ultrasound (US)-powered IMDs. The implemented system is fully digital and PLL-free, thus reducing area occupation and making it fully synthesizable. Post-layout simulation results are reported using a 28 nm Bulk CMOS technology provided by TSMC. Using a 2 MHz carrier input signal and an implant depth of 1 cm, the data rate is up to 1.33 Mbit/s with a 50% duty cycle, while the minimum average power consumption is cut-down to 3.3 μW in the typical corner.
Highlights
In recent years, a considerable portion of the electronics field has been focused on bioengineering applications
Post-layout simulation results are reported using a 28 nm Bulk CMOS technology provided by TSMC
As a part of wireless implantable medical devices (IMDs), we propose a new solution of a Binary Phase-Shift Keying (BPSK) demodulator in order to design a robust, low-area and lowpower downlink for ultrasound (US)-powered implanted units
Summary
A considerable portion of the electronics field has been focused on bioengineering applications. To get rid of this drawback, more recently adopted implantable neurostimulators have employed a wireless link for power and data transfer from/to the implanted IC This constitutes a technological challenge in neurostimulation, whose state-of-the-art culminates with arrays of free-standing smart electrodes, not relying on powered units and wired connections [6]. Such smart electrodes should integrate all the required elements to receive power and operational commands (downlink communication), while the preserve size should be compatible with the intended application, ideally smaller than 1 mm.
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