NeTS: Small: Toward Wirelessly Rechargeable And Ultrasonically-networked Implantable Systems

NeTS：小型：迈向无线充电和超声波网络植入系统

• 批准号: 1618731
• 负责人: Tommaso Melodia
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Northeastern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-10-01 至 2019-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1618731&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NeTS; Small; Toward; Wirelessly; Rechargeable

The research objective of this project is to develop the foundations for a new family of Micro-electromechanical System (MEMS)-based miniaturized wireless implants that are networked and recharged through ultrasonic waves. The availability of low-energy micro-implants that communicate through low-power ultrasonic communications will enable real-time wireless telemetry and re-programmability while minimally affecting the implant battery life. Moreover, ultrasonic wireless battery charging could virtually eliminate the battery life constraint from the design of medical implants. For example, according to recent studies, 9% of patients experienced complications following a cardiac battery replacement. Lower power consumption and wireless battery charging would reduce these risks, as well as replacement costs. The team will collaborate with leading clinical experts to apply the proposed technology to different devices in the medical field. The project will support and train two graduate students who will become experts in the intra-body ultrasonic networking technology and its applications. The project will be articulated into several basic research tasks, and revolve around an underlying effort to design and develop a miniaturized flexible sensing, processing, and networking platform (u-mote). The u-mote will be built by integrating miniaturized low-power FPGAs and microcontrollers to offer hardware and software re-programmability. The project will first seek to design new arrays of micro-machined ultrasonic Aluminum Nitride (AlN) MEMS transducers with bandwidth larger than 1 MHz offering focusing and beamforming capabilities. The ultrasonic communication interface will implement state-of-the-art communication and networking schemes that are fully software-defined and composable through a set of modular libraries. Finally, the u-mote will have new MEMS-based energy harvesting and ultrasonic wireless recharging capabilities, and a novel zero-standby-power wake-up interface.

该项目的研究目标是为基于微机电系统 (MEMS) 的新型微型无线植入物系列奠定基础，这些植入物通过超声波联网和充电。通过低功耗超声波通信进行通信的低能量微型植入物的出现将实现实时无线遥测和重新编程，同时最大限度地减少对植入物电池寿命的影响。此外，超声波无线电池充电实际上可以消除医疗植入物设计中的电池寿命限制。例如，根据最近的研究，9% 的患者在更换心脏电池后出现并发症。较低的功耗和无线电池充电将降低这些风险以及更换成本。该团队将与领先的临床专家合作，将所提出的技术应用于医疗领域的不同设备。该项目将支持和培训两名研究生，他们将成为体内超声网络技术及其应用的专家。 该项目将分为几项基础研究任务，并围绕设计和开发微型灵活传感、处理和网络平台（u-mote）的基础工作。 u-mote 将通过集成小型化低功耗 FPGA 和微控制器来构建，以提供硬件和软件的可重新编程性。该项目将首先寻求设计新型微加工超声波氮化铝 (AlN) MEMS 传感器阵列，其带宽大于 1 MHz，提供聚焦和波束形成功能。超声波通信接口将实现最先进的通信和网络方案，这些方案完全由软件定义，并可通过一组模块化库进行组合。最后，u-mote 将具有新的基于 MEMS 的能量收集和超声波无线充电功能，以及新颖的零待机功耗唤醒接口。