A Wireless Power and Data Transfer IC for Neural Prostheses Using a Single Inductive Link With Frequency-Splitting...

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Wireless Communication
• Integrated Circuit Design

Background:

• Simultaneous wireless power and data transfer is crucial for many emerging applications.
• Existing methods often face trade-offs between power delivery and data rate.
• Inductive links are a common approach but can be limited in bandwidth and efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an integrated circuit (IC) for efficient, simultaneous wireless power and data transfer over a single inductive link.
• To leverage frequency-splitting characteristics for enhanced performance.
• To improve the figure of merit (FoM) for both power delivery and data transmission.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a frequency-splitting-based inductive link.
• Employed frequency-shift keying (FSK) modulation for data transmission.
• Fabricated the IC using a 180-nm BCD process.

Main Results:

• Achieved simultaneous wireless power delivery up to 115 mW and a downlink data rate of 2.5 Mb/s.
• Demonstrated a maximum overall power efficiency of 56.7%.
• Reported a bit error rate (BER) below 10^-6 at 2.5 Mb/s.

Conclusions:

• The proposed frequency-splitting approach enables high-performance simultaneous wireless power and data transfer.
• The developed IC significantly enhances the figure of merit for both power delivery (38.7x) and data transmission (2x) compared to prior art.
• This technology offers a promising solution for efficient and integrated wireless power and data communication.