Transcript
As explained recently in Nature Electronics, a research team at Brown University has developed a novel wireless communication network that can efficiently transmit, receive and decode data from thousands of microelectronic chips that are each no larger than a grain of salt. The sensor network is designed so the chips can be implanted into the body or integrated into wearable devices. Each submillimeter-sized silicon sensor mimics how neurons in the brain communicate through spikes of electrical activity.
The sensors detect specific events as spikes and then transmit that data wirelessly in real time using radio waves, saving both energy and bandwidth. According to the researchers, neurons do not fire all the time. They compress data and fire sparsely so that they are very efficient. This wireless telecommunication approach will mimic the brain’s structure.
The sensors will not be sending out data all the time — they’ll just be sending relevant data as needed in short bursts of electrical spikes, and they will be able to do so independently of the other sensors and without coordinating with a central receiver. By doing this, it will manage to save a lot of energy and avoid flooding the central receiver hub with less meaningful data. This radiofrequency transmission scheme also makes the system scalable and tackles a common problem with current sensor communication networks; that is, they all need to be perfectly synchronized to work well.
The new work marks a significant step forward in large-scale wireless sensor technology and may one day help shape how scientists collect and interpret information from these little silicon devices, especially since electronic sensors have become ubiquitous as a result of modern technology. We live in a world of sensors. They are all over the place. And the most demanding environment for these sensors will always be inside the human body. That’s why the researchers believe the system can help lay the foundation for the next generation of implantable and wearable biomedical sensors.
There is a growing need in medicine for microdevices that are efficient, unobtrusive and unnoticeable but that also operate as part of large ensembles to map physiological activity across an entire area of interest. The events the sensors identify and transmit can be specific occurrences such as changes in the environment they are monitoring, including temperature fluctuations or the presence of certain substances.
The sensors are able to use as little energy as they do because external transceivers supply wireless power to the sensors as they transmit their data — meaning they just need to be within range of the energy waves sent out by the transceiver to get a charge.
This ability to operate without needing to be plugged into a power source or battery makes them convenient and versatile for use in many different situations.
The researchers demonstrated the efficiency of their system as well as just how much it could potentially be scaled up. They tested the system using 78 sensors in the lab and found they were able to collect and send data with few errors, even when the sensors were transmitting at different times. Through simulations, they were able to show how to decode data collected from the brains of primates using about 8,000 hypothetically implanted sensors.
The researchers say the next steps include optimizing the system for reduced power consumption and exploring broader applications beyond neurotechnology.
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