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

该计划的目标是验证一种分布式电力传输体系结构，以向植入人体的设备提供射频电力。该架构的目标是在复杂的体内环境中构建高效可靠的无线信道进行能量传输。如果证明可行，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、对人类健康的潜在危害以及大型和重型设备。智能优势是拟议的分布式电力传输体系结构，这可能是使下一代系统能够进行无线电力输送的变革性。具体地说，它有两个主要创新。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连接到一大片皮肤上，并与皮肤电匹配。第二，多个天线单元共同发挥反向反射波束形成器的作用：在从植入设备发出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上，在低于人类安全水平的所有其他位置上具有功率强度。更广泛的影响包括：(I)促进当代身体区域网络到下一个水平的集成；(Ii)支持研究生和本科生并为他们提供极好的研究机会；(Iii)对三个参与机构的理工科课程产生建设性的影响；(Iv)让当地的高中生和教师参与拟议的研究活动；以及(V)对德克萨斯州北部高科技产业的研究和教育方面的影响。

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.