Integrated multichannel wireless biotelemetry system

Wireless telemetry of bioelectric signals, specifically neural recordings, is desirable in many research and clinical applications. These include, but are not limited to: telemetry and recording of neural activity in laboratory animals, telemetry of EEG, telemetry of short-term implanted electrode arrays for epilepsy medical diagnosis, functional electrical stimulation (FES) systems, and implantable neuroprosthetic devices for sensory and command control. The present use of either head-mounted connectors attached to wires in lab animals, or transcutaneous leads for cortical monitoring in clinical patients, is often a major restriction in the effectiveness and duration of the recording process. We report on a fully-integrated design for a 16-channel neural amplifier array combined with a UHF-FM transmitter that would allow near co-location of the amplifier and electrodes as well as eliminate troublesome signal interconnecting wires to remote recording equipment. The power required by the integrated biotelemetry system is sufficiently low to allow transcutaneous power transfer to one or more of these devices via a magnetically-coupled link.