Laser diode used in 16 Mb/s, 10 mW optical transcutaneous telemetry system

Developments in neuroprosthetics have lead to applications with high channel counts, thus increasing the need for high bandwidth telemetry systems to transmit data out of the body. Optical telemetry is a promising implantable telemetry solution, and data rates and power consumption criteria are being established. This paper presents the performance of a laser diode-based system in various operating conditions. This system transmits at data rates up to 16 Mb/s through a skin thickness of 4 mm while achieving a BER of 1E-9 with consumption of 10 mW or less.