Collaborative Research: A Novel Wireless Power Transmission Architecture for Devices Implanted in Human Bodies

该计划的目的是验证分布式电力传输架构，以向植入人体的设备提供射频电力。该架构旨在在复杂的体内环境中构建高效可靠的无线信道以实现能量传输。如果被证明是可行的，它将从根本上解决与最先进的无线充电技术相关的一些问题，包括效率低、对人体健康的潜在危害以及设备又大又重。智能优点是所提出的分布式电力传输架构，它具有潜在的变革性，可以实现下一代无线电力传输系统。具体来说，它有两个主要的创新。首先，射频功率通过多个天线元件传输，这些天线元件物理地附着在大面积的皮肤上，并在电上与皮肤匹配。其次，多个天线元件共同充当反向反射波束形成器：在植入设备发出的导频信号的引导下，它们的辐射在空间上收敛到目标设备，其功率强度在所有其他位置低于人体安全水平。更广泛的影响包括(i)促进当代身体区域网络到下一个整合水平；（二）支持研究生和本科生，为他们提供良好的研究机会；（iii）对三所参与院校的科学及工程课程产生建设性影响；（四）为当地高中师生提供参与拟开展的研究活动的机会；(v)影响北德克萨斯州高科技产业的研究和教育方面。

The objective of this program is to verify a distributed power transmission architecture to deliver radio frequency power to devices implanted in human bodies. The proposed architecture aims to construct efficient and reliable wireless channels in complex in-body environments for power transfer. If proved feasible, it would fundamentally resolve a few problems associated with the state-of-the-art wireless charging technologies, including low efficiency, potential hazard to human health, and large and heavy apparatuses.The intellectual merit is the proposed distributed power transmission architecture, which is potentially transformative to enable next-generation systems for wireless power delivery. Specifically, it has two major innovations. First, radio frequency power is transmitted via multiple antenna elements physically attached to a large area of skin and electrically matched to the skin. Second, the multiple antenna elements jointly behave as a retro-reflective beamformer: guided by the pilot signal sent from an implanted device, their radiations spatially converge to the target device with power intensities at all other locations below safety levels regulated for human.The broader impacts include (i) promoting the contemporary Body Area Networks to the next level of integration; (ii) supporting both graduate and undergraduate students and provide them with excellent research opportunities; (iii) making constructive impacts to the science and engineering curricula at the three participating institutes; (iv) offering local high school students and teachers to participate in the proposed research activities; and (v) impacting both research and educational aspects of North Texas' high-tech industries.