Future biomedical implants with extended wireless connectivity will form the bottom layer of a future intelligent health care delivery infrastructure. In addition to providing therapy through electrical stimulation and drug delivery, implants will provide uploading diagnostic information to clinicians and downloading of customized therapeutic algorithms to enable personalized medicine. Currently, batteries provide all of the energy needs for implants, but batteries inherently limit operating lifetime due to their fixed energy density and the strict volume and weight constraints imposed by implantable devices. We plan to develop a miniaturized rechargeable power supply for biomedical implants which harvests energy from the movement and body temperature of the patient, stores the energy in printed batteries and capacitors, and regulates this energy into a stable voltage for running a number of diverse electronic subsystems. This effort is multidisciplinary, bringing together mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and clinicians to synthesize an integrated reliable and biocompatible power supply solution which can extend the lifetime and functionality of current implants and enable a new generation of biomedical devices.

2009 Update:

This seed funding was used to help develop ideas for several collaborative proposals that involved multiple faculty from several departments. Initially, it was used for seeding the proposal to NSF to establish a Center for Advanced Radio Spectrum Utilization, as an Engineering Research Center (ERC). Since the ERC proposal was not funded some of the ideas were used in the subsequent NSF Expeditions in Computer Science and UC Discovery proposals. The common idea behind this research is to fundamentally change the operation of wireless communication systems. One hundred years of spectrum sharing based on fixed frequency allocations have led to fracturing and poor utilization. Due to the explosive growth of wireless communications over the last decade, reliance on mobile telephones for daily voice and data communication, and often for first contact in case of emergency, has become pervasive. Present methods of frequency allocation combined with a reliance on fixed infrastructure threaten to halt this growth. An additional consequence is the deployment of fundamentally less robust systems, prone to disruption in major disasters or overload. By enabling the secondary use of spectrum on an opportunistic basis, ubiquitous, robust and agile wireless systems can be realized, that are able to support further traffic growth and changing demands in traffic, while ensuring operation in case of emergencies. As such, it will enable the extension of wireless data-rates and coverage for many decades to come, and open the door for exciting new applications to emerge.

The research outcome will enable the growth of wireless communications for another century. Furthermore, it will enable transformation of today’s mobile telephone to a future device that is capable of communication in many different ways including servicing communications during major disasters.