IBCOM (intra-brain communication) microsystem: Wireless transmission of neural signals within the brain

Author

Al-Ashmouny, Khaled M. ; Boldt, Chris ; Ferguson, John E. ; Erdman, Arthur G. ; Redish, A. David ; Yoon, Euisik

Author_Institution

Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci. Dept., Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

3-6 Sept. 2009

Firstpage

2054

Lastpage

2057

Abstract

We report our preliminary work to explore a new method of signal transmission for bio-implantable microsystems. Intra-brain communication or IBCOM is a wireless signal transmission method that uses the brain itself as a conductive medium to transmit the data and commands between neural implants and data processing systems outside the brain. Two miniaturized IBCOM (mu-IBCOM) CMOS chips were designed and fabricated for an in vivo test bed to transmit two prerecorded neural signals at different binary frequency shift keying (BFSK) carrier frequencies to validate the feasibility of IBCOM concept. The chips were packaged for full implantation in a rat brain except for external power delivery. The original neural signal waveforms were successfully recovered after being transmitted between two platinum electrodes separated by 15 mm with transmission power less than 650 pJ/bit for the CMOS implementation.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; biocommunications; bioelectric phenomena; biomedical electrodes; brain; medical signal detection; neurophysiology; BFSK carrier frequency; CMOS implementation; IBCOM CMOS chips; binary frequency shift keying; bio-implantable microsystems; conductive medium; data processing system; in vivo test bed; intra-brain communication microsystem; neural implants; neural signal waveform; platinum electrodes; rat brain; signal transmission; wireless signal transmission method; Amplifiers, Electronic; Animals; Brain; Central Nervous System; Electric Stimulation; Equipment Design; Implants, Experimental; Miniaturization; Neurons; Peripheral Nervous System; Rats; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Signal Transduction; Telemetry;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2009. EMBC 2009. Annual International Conference of the IEEE

Conference_Location

Minneapolis, MN

ISSN

1557-170X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-3296-7

Electronic_ISBN

1557-170X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5334432

Filename

5334432