Sensor data retrieval using alignment independent capacitive signaling

We propose a capacitive coupling based method for sensor data retrieval which can be easily integrated with miniature sensor nodes of sub-mm scale. An alignment independent mechanism is implemented to achieve <15% difference in achievable data rate when the sensor chip is randomly dropped on the data retrieval chip regardless of alignment. To enable passive operation of the sensor chip, the data retrieval chip send power to/receive signal from the sensor chip simultaneously.