A Dual-Band Wireless Power Transfer and Backscatter Communication Approach for Real-Time Neural/EMG Data Acquisition

We present a dual-band approach for HF wireless power delivery and UHF backscatter communication in implanted biomedical devices. A testbed is described including a custom implant device as well as an external system based around the USRP B210 software defined radio platform. The implant integrates a binary phase shift keying backscatter uplink rate of 5 Mb/s, with an HF wireless power transfer link delivering 1.33 mW at an efficiency of 17%. The implant is 25 mm in diameter and 2.8 mm thick, including the printed circuit substrate, dual-band antenna, all circuitry, and biocompatible silicone encapsulation. It supports up to ten neural and four electromyogram (EMG) channels with a sampling rate of 26.10 kHz for the neural channels and 1.628 kHz for the EMG channels. The communication link is shown to have 0% packet error rate at an implant depth of up to 2.5 cm.