Stretchable Planar Antenna Modulated by Integrated Circuit (SPAMIC) for the Near Field Communication (NFC) of Epidermal Electrophysiological Sensors (EEPS)

用于表皮电生理传感器 (EEPS) 近场通信 (NFC) 的集成电路 (SPAMIC) 调制可拉伸平面天线

• 批准号: 1509767
• 负责人: Nanshu Lu
• 金额: $ 38.04万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1509767&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Stretchable; Planar; Antenna; Modulated; Integrated

ECCS- Prop. No. 15097671- Proposal Title: Stretchable Planar Antenna Modulated by Integrated Circuit (SPAMIC) for the Near Field Communication (NFC) of Epidermal Electrophysiological Sensors (EEPS) 2- Brief description of project Goals:To investigate and implement stretchable planar antenna modulated by integrated circuit for the near field communication of epidermal electrophysiological sensors.3- Abstract:a) Nontechnical Abstract:Epidermal electrophysiological sensor (EEPS) is a class of skin mounted, non-invasive, ultra-thin electrophysiological (EP) sensors with softness matching human epidermis. They are considered the most intimate and comfortable wearable sensors for long term EP monitoring including electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyogram (EMG), and electroencephalogram (EEG). EEPS has a great potential to transform both mobile health (mHealth) and human-machine interface (HMI) if the low power and wireless operation of EEPS can be realized. Out of many wireless technologies, near field communication (NFC) is chosen because it can wirelessly transmit both power and data, which makes it possible to bypass both batteries and bulky wireless modules on the EEPS. Therefore the proposed wireless EEPS will house only three components: stretchable gold EP electrodes, aluminum stretchable planar antenna (SPA), and one single millimeter-sized integrated circuit (IC) chip. Stretchable EP electrodes and SPA have been successfully manufactured, hence the research objective can be achieved through the following three research tasks: i) the rational design, characterization, and optimization of skin-mounted SPA, ii) the design of the ultra-low-power, zero-external-component IC for EEPS data acquisition (DAQ) and NFC, and iii) the integration of the three components and the validation of the wireless EEPS. The proposed SPAMIC technology will enable the first low cost, battery-free, wireless EEPS with minimum rigid component. The impact on mobile health and HMI can be disruptive because it will make possible more affordable, dependable, long term, and unobstructive EP monitoring in comparison with existing expensive and confining systems. The education and outreach objective of this proposal is to tightly integrate the research efforts and results with graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 education and to globally disseminate both research and the education outcomes.b) Technical Abstract:Although the unprecedented thinness and compliance of EEPS offer ultimate conformability to human skin and long term wearability, microprocessors, wireless communication modules, and batteries cannot be manufactured as thin and soft as the EEPS very easily. Cables that connect the EEPS to the DAQ are not only obstructive, but also a major source of motion artifacts and interference. We propose to develop stretchable planar antenna modulated by integrated circuit (SPAMIC)-enabled battery free, wireless EEPS with three unprecedented merits: artifact-minimized EP measurement, long term wearability, and low cost. Despite the many merits of NFC, there are two major challenges to implement NFC for EEPS: i) Although the SPA can be made as thin as stretchable as EEPS, its operation can be significantly affected by bio-integration and mechanical deformation. Therefore the first intellectual merit of the proposed work is the fundamental understanding of the electrical/mechanical/bio coupling of skin-mounted SPA and the holistic design paradigm of SPA enabled by this fundamental understanding. ii) The power harvested from NFC is very limited especially at long distance and in the presence of large frequency detuning due to bio-coupling. Thus, the second intellectual merit is the design of ultra-low-power IC and applying on-chip frequency compensation to mitigate the dynamic variation of bio-integrated SPA. The transformative aspect of this work arises from the broad applicability of SPAMIC to other wearable and even implantable devices when they try to go wireless.

ECCS-提案编号15097671-提案标题：用于表皮电生理传感器（EEPS）的近场通信（NFC）的集成电路（SPAMIC）调制的可拉伸平面天线2-项目目标的简要描述：研究和实施用于表皮电生理传感器的近场通信的集成电路调制的可拉伸平面天线。3-摘要：a）非技术摘要：表皮电生理传感器（EEPS）是一种安装在皮肤上的、非侵入性的、超薄的电生理传感器，具有与人体表皮相匹配的柔软度。它们被认为是最亲密和舒适的可穿戴传感器，用于长期EP监测，包括心电图（ECG），肌电图（EMG）和脑电图（EEG）。如果能够实现EEPS的低功耗和无线操作，则EEPS具有巨大的潜力来改变移动的健康（mHealth）和人机界面（HMI）。在众多无线技术中，选择近场通信（NFC）是因为它可以无线传输电力和数据，这使得可以绕过EEPS上的电池和笨重的无线模块。因此，拟议的无线EEPS将只容纳三个组件：可拉伸的金EP电极，铝可拉伸平面天线（SPA）和一个单一的毫米大小的集成电路（IC）芯片。可拉伸EP电极和SPA已经成功制造，因此可以通过以下三个研究任务来实现研究目标：i）皮肤安装SPA的合理设计、表征和优化，ii）用于EEPS数据采集（DAQ）和NFC的超低功耗、零外部组件IC的设计，以及iii）三个组件的集成和无线EEPS的验证。所提出的SPAMIC技术将使第一个低成本，无电池，无线EEPS与最小的刚性组件。对移动的健康和HMI的影响可能是破坏性的，因为与现有的昂贵和限制性系统相比，它将使更经济、可靠、长期和无障碍的EP监测成为可能。本提案的教育和推广目标是将研究工作和成果与研究生、本科生和K-12教育紧密结合，并在全球范围内传播研究和教育成果。B）技术摘要：尽管EEPS前所未有的薄度和顺应性提供了对人类皮肤的最终顺应性和长期耐磨性，但微处理器、无线通信模块和电池不能很容易地制造得像EEPS那样薄和软。将EEPS连接到DAQ的电缆不仅是障碍性的，而且是运动伪影和干扰的主要来源。我们建议开发可拉伸平面天线调制集成电路（SPAMIC）使能电池免费，无线EEPS具有三个前所未有的优点：伪影最小化EP测量，长期可穿戴性，和低成本。尽管NFC有许多优点，但为EEPS实施NFC存在两个主要挑战：i）尽管SPA可以被制成与EEPS一样薄且可拉伸，但其操作可能受到生物整合和机械变形的显著影响。因此，所提出的工作的第一个智力价值是对皮肤安装的SPA的电/机械/生物耦合的基本理解以及通过这种基本理解实现的SPA的整体设计范例。ii）从NFC收集的功率是非常有限的，特别是在长距离处以及在由于生物耦合而存在大的频率失谐的情况下。因此，第二个智力优点是超低功耗IC的设计和应用片上频率补偿来减轻生物集成SPA的动态变化。这项工作的变革性方面源于SPAMIC对其他可穿戴设备甚至植入式设备的广泛适用性，当它们尝试无线化时。