Low-power high-speed capacitive transdermal Spatial Pulse Position Modulation communication

Abstract

Neural recording or neural stimulating biomedical implants require a low-power high-speed communication link. We propose a novel modulation scheme for biomedical implants based on Spatial Pulse Position Modulation (SPPM). The principle of this new modulation scheme is presented, a system is developed up to post-layout simulation and is shown to perform up to 200 Mbps using only 750 μW at the transmitter side (3.75 pJ/bit) and 253 μW at the receiver side. The possibility of naturally combining a Viterbi encoder to the system is evoked, and important circuits stemming from the SPPM concept are briefly presented, such as a new receiver topology, based on a resistive bridge and two comparators.