Energy-efficient adaptive modulation in wireless communication for implanted medical devices

In contrast to conventional wireless communication which takes place over the air, Radio Frequency (RF) communication through the human body poses unique challenges. Studies on RF propagation through human body indicate that the heterogeneous body tissues with different dielectric properties constitute a complicated and lossy environment for signal propagation. This environment also varies with different implant positions, individuals, body shapes and postures. As a result, there is a large variation in the path loss value of the in-body communication channel. In this paper, we first examine the energy efficiency of different digital modulation schemes in a basic wireless implant system. We point out that using a fixed type of modulation does not help to achieve the best energy efficiency in the implant system that has varying channel conditions. We then propose an adaptive communication system model which is suitable for wireless medical implant. Simulations results show that adopting adaptive modulation can provide a considerable amount of energy saving.