Recent wireless body sensors: Design and implementation

The term body sensor refers to a variety of biomedical devices operating within, on or at close proximity to the human body. Some examples are pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, bionic eye, bionic ear, swallowable devices like wireless capsule, neural recording and stimulation devices and wearable sensor devices in telemedicine for physiological signal sensing and monitoring. More body sensor devices will be developed in the future to undertake various body tasks and to diagnose chronic diseases. These devices are made wireless in order to increase patient comfort, to enable patient mobility, and to make the device robust. A wireless system is necessary for information transfer from these devices placed on or inside the body for purpose of controlling and monitoring. A wireless link designed for body sensor devices should form an intelligent communication network such as a body area network in order to work efficiently and safely in the same environment. This article presents recent sensor nodes developed for such medical networks.