RF and Communication Technologies for Wireless IMPLANTS.

T HIS special issue includes seven interesting articles that tackle some of the existing challenges and design issues related to the use of RF and Communication Technologies for wireless implants. An in-body medical device is a miniature device that is inserted in the human body to collect physiological signals and images or to act like a prosthetic device restoring certain body functions. In order for these devices to communicate with the external world, radio frequency (RF) wireless technologies are often used to maintain their operation for a longer period of time. This is achieved by integrating wireless communication technologies within these devices. In some situations, a body worn device is used to receive the medical information from the devices in the human body and then transmit to remote stations for remote medical monitoring. The attempt to insert electronic devices inside the human body started more than 50 years ago, aimed at understanding biological activities with recording the electrocardiogram, pressure and temperature for medical diagnosis [1]–[4]. Recent advances in micro-electro-mechanical systems and low-power integrated circuit technology have enabled the design of complex in-body devices. There are several commercial in-body medical devices already used in the clinical settings for diagnosis of diseases. Some of the current examples are pacemakers, im-plantable cardioverter-defibrillators, wireless endoscopes, wireless neural implants, cochlear and retinal implants. These devices have improved the quality of life for many patients. Currently , researchers are working to add new features with help of advanced nano-and micro-technologies. New sensing mechanisms , advanced wireless telemetry links, and low-power RF building blocks are still required to enable high performance and better diagnostic capabilities for better healthcare applications. However, size constraints present a significant problem when designing such links. New developments also consider wireless energy mechanism to provide power supply for wireless implants operating within the body. This special issue has received 19 submissions. After rigorous review, seven has been selected to cover the recent research activities related to wireless implants and their operation in the human body. The paper by Bat et al. " A 0.33nJ/bit IEEE802.15.6 /pro-prietary MICS/ISM wireless transceiver with scalable data rate for medical implantable applications, " presents a CMOS con-figurable wireless transceiver designed to operate at the 402– and Medical (ISM) band. They demonstrated a complete implant system using this transceiver in the paper in order to be compliant with the newly established IEEE 802.15.6 standard [5]. Wireless neural recording from …