An inductively powered telemetry system for temperature, EKG, and activity monitoring

An implant telemetry system for the simultaneous monitoring of temperature, activity, and EKG from small animals, such as rats, has recently been designed with the novel feature that instead of a battery the system is energized by an inductive field. A 250 kHz resonant coil surrounds the cage (30 X 30 X 20 cm) and provides the approximately 100 muW of power required to operate the implant transmitter while allowing the animal unrestrained movement in the cage. The implant can also be battery operated if desired RF transmission is in the 8-10 MHz band, which allows the use of a simple, essentially single IC chip, receiver.