Innovative Solution
Improves Implantable Device
Communication
BY THOMAS CROCKER
RESE ARCHERS AT THE
NATIONAL UNIVERSIT Y OF
SINGAPORE ARE CRE ATING
INNOVATIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE
COMMUNICATION WITH
IMPL ANTABLE DE VICES. THE
RESE ARCHERS DE TERMINED
THAT A SHIRT PRINTED WITH
SPECIALLY PAT TERNED
CONDUCTIVE INK NOT ONLY
HELPS ELECTRONIC DE VICES
MORE EFFICIENTLY TR ANSMIT
WIRELESS SIGNALS BUT ALSO
CONSERVES BAT TERY LIFE.
ELECTRONIC MEDICAL IMPL ANTS use
considerable energy to relay radio waves out
of the body because the skin reflects many
of the waves' rays, confining the waves to
the body, writes Chris Lee for Ars Technica.
In a study published in the journal Physical
Review Applied, Nationa l University of
Singapore researchers devised a way to
amplify wireless transmission using a shirt
printed with patterns designed to modify
evanescent waves created by the body's
reflection of the radio waves.
BOOSTING THE SIGNAL
"[T]a ilored diffractive patterns placed
on the surface of the body can enhance
wireless transmission by nearly an order
of magnitude via the conversion of eva-
nescent waves generated by total internal
reflection into propagating waves that
transmit into the far field," the research-
ers write.
The researchers tested the shirt by plac-
ing it on a dead pig containing a Bluetooth
transmitter. The transmitter produced
a stronger signa l and gained 20 hours of
battery life compared with a transmitter
inside a pig corpse that was not outfitted
with the shirt, Lee writes. The shirt could
enhance the durability and efficiency of
electronic medical implants in the future,
according to the researchers. n
M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S G R E AT E R K A N S A S
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