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

该项目的目的是验证分布式功率传输架构，以向植入人体的器械提供射频功率。 所提出的架构的目的是在复杂的体内环境中构建高效可靠的无线信道，用于功率传输。 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，以及大型和重型设备。其智力价值是所提出的分布式电力传输架构，这可能是变革性的，以实现下一代无线电力传输系统。 具体来说，它有两大创新。 首先，射频功率经由物理地附接到大面积皮肤并且与皮肤电匹配的多个天线元件来发射。 第二，多个天线元件共同表现为回射波束形成器：在植入设备发送的导频信号的引导下，它们的辐射在空间上会聚到目标设备，并且在所有其他位置处的功率强度低于人体规定的安全水平。（ii）支援研究生和本科生，并为他们提供良好的研究机会;（iii）对三所参与院校的理工科课程产生建设性的影响;（iv）让本地高中学生和教师参与建议的研究活动;及（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.