TY - GEN
T1 - Optical Wireless Data Transfer Through Biotissues
T2 - 14th EAI International Conference on Body Area Networks, BodyNets 2019
AU - Ahmed, Iqrar
AU - Bykov, Alexander
AU - Popov, Alexey
AU - Meglinski, Igor
AU - Katz, Marcos
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Light has been used in many medical applications to monitor health status and diagnose diseases. Examples include optical sensing through nearinfrared (NIR) spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, and pulse oximetry. In this article, we propose and demonstrate digital communications through biological tissues using near-infrared light. There are many possible uses to an optical system transmitting information across tissues. In current practices, implants predominantly use radio frequency (RF) radiation for communication. However, molecular biology restricts use of the RF in terms of power, frequency etc., while interference and security issues represent technological challenges in RF communication. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel way of employing NIR light for wireless transmission of data through biological tissues. A phantom mimicking a biological tissue is illuminated with a NIR 810 nm wavelength light-emitting diode (LED), and a light detector with line-of-sight alignment is placed on receiving end. An experimental testbed for Optical Communications through Biotissue (OCBT) was designed and implemented using mostly off-the-shelf components. Measurements for different levels of optical output power and thicknesses were carried out. Transmission rates as high as several tens of kilobits-per-second across several millimeters of tissues were achieved. Hardware limitations in modulating the baseband signal prevented achieving higher data rates. In addition, a high-resolution picture was successfully transmitted through biotissue. The communication system as well as details of the testbed implementations are presented in this paper. Moreover, initial performance measures as well as suggestions for potential use of this optical communication system are also presented and discussed.
AB - Light has been used in many medical applications to monitor health status and diagnose diseases. Examples include optical sensing through nearinfrared (NIR) spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, and pulse oximetry. In this article, we propose and demonstrate digital communications through biological tissues using near-infrared light. There are many possible uses to an optical system transmitting information across tissues. In current practices, implants predominantly use radio frequency (RF) radiation for communication. However, molecular biology restricts use of the RF in terms of power, frequency etc., while interference and security issues represent technological challenges in RF communication. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel way of employing NIR light for wireless transmission of data through biological tissues. A phantom mimicking a biological tissue is illuminated with a NIR 810 nm wavelength light-emitting diode (LED), and a light detector with line-of-sight alignment is placed on receiving end. An experimental testbed for Optical Communications through Biotissue (OCBT) was designed and implemented using mostly off-the-shelf components. Measurements for different levels of optical output power and thicknesses were carried out. Transmission rates as high as several tens of kilobits-per-second across several millimeters of tissues were achieved. Hardware limitations in modulating the baseband signal prevented achieving higher data rates. In addition, a high-resolution picture was successfully transmitted through biotissue. The communication system as well as details of the testbed implementations are presented in this paper. Moreover, initial performance measures as well as suggestions for potential use of this optical communication system are also presented and discussed.
KW - Biological tissue
KW - Implantable medical devices
KW - Medical technology
KW - Medical wireless communications
KW - Near-infrared communications
KW - Optical wireless communications
KW - WBAN
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076510470&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-34833-5_16
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-34833-5_16
M3 - Conference article in proceedings
AN - SCOPUS:85076510470
SN - 978-3-030-34832-8
T3 - Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering
SP - 191
EP - 205
BT - Body Area Networks. Smart IoT and Big Data for Intelligent Health Management - 14th EAI International Conference, BODYNETS 2019, Proceedings
A2 - Mucchi, Lorenzo
A2 - Hämäläinen, Matti
A2 - Jayousi, Sara
A2 - Morosi, Simone
PB - Springer
Y2 - 2 October 2019 through 3 October 2019
ER -