Design of an NFC enabled bio-patch solution

This paper addresses the design and implementation of an NFC enabled bio-patch solution. The design serves as a prototype for a flexible solution that would adhere to the skin. The bio-patch design incorporates a combination of sensor solutions which enable on-skin temperature measurements and galvanic skin response (GSR) monitoring. The bio-patch design consists of a single chip solution based on the RF430FRL152H device from Texas Instruments. The device handles the sensor signal conditioning, processes the sensor data, enables data-logging of the sensor data via on-board ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) and provides the RF communication link through near field communication (NFC) to an available gateway, in this case an Android NFC enabled handset. The bio-patch can operate with or without a battery power source. Without a battery, the bio-patch is functional when in proximity of the gateway, scavenging the RF energy of the radiating element through inductive coupling. As part of the system solution, an Android app was developed to collect the information and thus provide a link to the Internet of Things.