Wireless In-Body Communications Systems Are Coming

Wireless In-Body Communications Systems Are Coming
According to Reuters, a Canadian company, Zarlink Semiconductor, has developed a wireless chip for medical implants to be used for in-body communication systems. With such a chip, a pacemaker could wirelessly be monitored by a doctor or an hospital several miles away. The company thinks there are many other applications for the chip, such as in implanted blood glucose meters, which control insulin for diabetics. This is possible because the chip is sleeping most of the time, waiting for wake-up calls from a base station located far away. This allows the chip to use only 20% of the power needed by previous systems while sending much more data when awake. Read more...
Here are the opening paragraphs from the Reuters article.
Zarlink Semiconductor Inc. unveiled a ground-breaking chip for medical devices on Tuesday that it says could let doctors monitor a patient's pacemaker or even control a diabetic's insulin dosage from miles away using wireless technology.
The Ottawa-based company said it has the world's first chip designed specifically for in-body communication systems, which wirelessly links implanted devices via base stations to a doctor or hospital.
"Baby boomers are getting older and they require pacemakers and defibrillators and various other devices," said Steve Swift, general manager of Zarlink's ultra low-power communications unit.
This diagram shows how the Zarlink's in-body communications system works. It comes from "Wireless Revolution" (PDF format, 2 pages, 671 KB), in which Henry Higgins of Zarlink Semiconductor discusses the latest in radio frequency technology and in-body communications systems.
Some implants will require an almost constant two-way link, while others only require occasional communication initiated by a base station. Data can be stored in memory and transmitted in bursts on request from the base station. This means the implant can be put into sleep mode between data transmissions to save battery power and allow a longer operating time, with the base station sending a "wake-up" signal to the implant before data is transmitted.
Reuters adds that because the chip is sleeping almost all the time, it consumes only 20% of the power of rival products, while transmitting ten times more data to a distance up to two meters.
For more information about these in-body communications systems, you also should read "The Ultra-Low-Power Wireless Medical Device Revolution" published by Medical Electronics Manufacturing in April 2005. Here is the conclusion of this well-documented article written by Peter Bradley, who is a project engineer and system architect with Zarlink Semiconductor's ultra-low-power communications division.
The design considerations for implantable radio-frequency (RF) communication systems require careful consideration of transceiver design, power consumption, and data integrity. Moreover, when designing an implantable RF communication system, it is essential to consider the issues related to remote management of these devices via the MICS band. The transceiver IC discussed in this article uses an architecture that provides the basic concepts of achieving low power and high data integrity.
These concepts will lead the way to high-performance, low-power RF communication. Such transceiver technology will facilitate clinically significant improvements in healthcare for the development of next generation of medical implants.
Now, a question remains. Who will license this promising new technology?
Sources: Susan Taylor, Reuters, May 31, 2005; and various websites
Related stories can be found in the following categories.
Chips
Medicine
Sensors
Wireless