Radiation tests on a bluetooth based front-end electronic device towards a subcutaneous continuous glucose monitoring sensor

The metabolic disorder which entails the absent or reduced control of blood glucose in the body by means of insulin dependence (Type 1) or intolerance (Type 2) affected more than 366 million people in 2011. This represents an increase of 28% new cases in one year. Diabetes Mellitus has become the most common chronic diseases in nearly all countries, and continues to increase in numbers and significance, as economic development and urbanization lead to changing lifestyles characterized by reduced physical activity, and increased obesity. Recent advances in wireless sensor networking technology have led to the development of low cost, low power, multifunctional sensor nodes that enable environment sensing together with data processing. Instrumented with a variety of sensors, such as temperature, humidity, volatile compound detection, bio implanted sensors; the development of such networks requires testing for transmission distance and human body interference. As Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) operates in the free 2.4GHz ISM band, the same band that Wi-Fi signals operate, tests regarding interference, robustness and coexistence must be made in order to ensure Quality of Service (QoS) and therefore achieve medical diagnostic equipment status. This paper presents a BLE prototype and compares the results obtained in terms of radiated power over distance with and without physical barriers.