Pulse-Based, Multi-Beam Optical Link for Data Telemetry to Implantable Biomedical Microsystems

This paper reports on a multi-channel, high-rate optical transcutaneous link for data telemetry to implantable microsystems. The proposed optical data telemetry link employs four optical transmitter-receiver pairs operating in parallel at 405, 655, 850, and 940 nm making it able to transmit four independent data streams. A proof-of-concept prototype is developed using a laser diode, three light-emitting diodes and four photodiodes with minimally-overlapping spectral responsivities. The prototype also includes driver circuits for optical transmitters as well as receiver circuits, implemented using off-the-shelf components. According to experimental results with real tissues as the transmission medium, the proposed link allows for achieving data rates up to a total of 130 Mbps with a bit error rate (BER) of better than 10−6.