Conductive Impulse for Wireless Communication in Dual-Chamber Leadless Pacemakers

Conductive impulse signaling is proposed for high-efficiency low data-rate wireless communication for future development in cardiac leadless pacemaker technology. The conductivity of the heart muscles and blood is used for electrical signal transmission between two pacemaker implants in the right atrium and the right ventricle. The communication channel is characterized in the frequency range of 1-15 MHz using numerical electromagnetic computations. The wideband implant electrodes support the impulse signaling, and the frequency flat communication channel prevents impulse distortion that simplifies the receiver design using a threshold detector scheme. An ultralow-power impulse generator is designed using off-the-shelf electronics and is integrated into a leadless pacemaker mockup, and the impulse transmission between two capsules is measured in a homogeneous phantom and in vivo animal heart experiments. The feasibility of system integration with the state-of-the-art leadless cardiac pacemakers is demonstrated that can support ultralow-power, low data-rate wireless communications.