Capacitive Link for Data Communication Between Free Floating mm-sized Brain Implants

Establishing communication between free floating brain implants is critical in applications that require a population of implants to operate in an organized manner or in a real-time feedback loop. We present a feasibility study of a data transmission link between mm-sized free floating brain implants through capacitive coupling. The proposed capacitive link utilizes metal plates integrated on a bottom and a sidewall of the implant. We demonstrate that the minimum required input power for establishing the data link is 31 nW at the operating frequency of 915 MHz. We demonstrate the feasibility of the data link up to a distance of 2 mm between the implants.