Approach to joint wireless powering and communication with electronic implantable medical devices based on near-infrared light

Abstract

This paper proposes what we believe to be a novel approach using near-infrared (NIR) light to jointly provide wireless communication and energy transfer to electronic implantable medical devices (IMDs). The proof-of-concept was implemented on a test bed constructed with commercially available components, including a single-beam 810 nm NIR LED, a monocrystalline photovoltaic cell (PV), a power management integrated circuit (PMIC), a photodetector amplifier (PDA), and a supercapacitor for energy storage. Three different experiments were conducted using a 1 cm thickness optical phantom mimicking the human soft tissue. First, we demonstrated optical power transfer capability. Second, we demonstrated data transmission capability utilizing Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK) modulation to carry the data. Third, we demonstrated joint data and power to IMDs. In terms of wireless energy transfer, the result shows that the supercapacitor achieves a full charge in approximately five hours with a constant NIR light exposure of 200 mW/cm2 across the optical phantom. Concerning wireless data transfer, data rates of approximately 100 kb/s are achieved. We show that combining wireless power transfer and data communication through a single beam NIR LED is feasible. Our approach aims to significantly enhance clinical applications and patient care in the field of biomedical engineering, especially in the context of providing secure and safe wireless communication links and power transfer techniques for IMDs.