A Three Tier Bioimplantable Sensor Monitoring Platform

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The possibility of creating cheap miniature bioimplants has led the research community to attempt to use these in the continuous monitoring of patients. A variety of sensors have been reported for the purpose, including devices aimed at monitoring blood pressure, sugar levels, temperature, etc. However, one of the current hurdles to the effective use of these technologies is the problem of remotely (externally) gathering data from deeply bio-implanted sensors whilst causing minimum impact to the lives of the patients (e.g. without the need for cables, replacing implanted batteries, etc). A novel solution to this problem is proposed here. The idea consists of a Three-Tier Network comprising sensor + ultrasonic transducer implants, a subcutaneously implanted transponder that communicates with the implants at ultrasonic frequencies and an external transponder that communicates with the subcutaneously implanted transponder via inductive coupling and externally at microwave frequencies. The network proposed will enable future designers of bioimplantable devices to focus solely on their particular sensor's operation, without having to worry about the problematic task of communicating remotely with it. Interfacing any sensor to the system proposed will be a relatively simple matter. The work carried out in this project will be of benefit to researchers in the medical and bioengineering research community as it will help accelerate the current effort to remotely monitor the health of patients.