Design Tradeoffs in Bioimplantable Devices: A Case Study with Bladder Pressure Monitoring

Abstract

Acceptable design tradeoffs depend heavily on the environment in which a device will operate. For bioimplantable devices, area, power, and reliability are crucial considerations which can dramatically impact their design, implementation, and eventual clinical translation. In this paper, we discuss potential effects of such tradeoffs using a wireless implantable bladder pressure sensor as a case study. We note that low power design techniques such as clock and power gating, when coupled with a reliable process technology, can improve device reliability while meeting the stringent area and power constraints of wireless biomedical implants.