A Reconfigurable Bidirectional Wireless Power and Full-Duplex Data Transceiver IC for Wearable Biomedical...

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Integrated Circuit Design

Background:

• Wearable biomedical devices require efficient wireless power and data transfer for continuous operation and real-time monitoring.
• Existing solutions often struggle with simultaneous bidirectional communication and power delivery, limiting functionality.
• The need for integrated, reconfigurable transceivers is growing for seamless device interaction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel reconfigurable bidirectional wireless power and data transceiver (RB-WPDT) integrated circuit (IC).
• To enable simultaneous, full-duplex (FD) data transmission and power transfer for wearable biomedical applications.
• To demonstrate a versatile IC capable of operating as a power amplifier or rectifier.

Main Methods:

• Designed a reconfigurable transceiver IC supporting differential class-D power amplifier and full-wave rectifier modes.
• Implemented a full-duplex (FD) data transmission scheme using frequency shift-keying pulse-width modulation (FSK-PWM) for downlink and load shift-keying (LSK) for uplink.
• Utilized a single inductive link for both power and data transfer, ensuring independent channel operation.

Main Results:

• Achieved downlink data rate of 250 kb/s and uplink data rate of 67 kb/s.
• Measured an overall DC-to-DC efficiency of 49% and delivered 120 mW to the load at a 5 mm distance.
• Fabricated the RB-WPDT IC using a 180-nm BCD CMOS process.

Conclusions:

• The proposed RB-WPDT IC successfully integrates reconfigurable power and data transfer capabilities for wearable biomedical systems.
• The implemented FD communication scheme achieves simultaneous bidirectional data transmission with minimal interference.
• This technology paves the way for more advanced, untethered wearable biomedical devices with enhanced functionality.