Medical implants could be made to communicate more easily thanks to a shirt woven with bands of metal textiles that act as data channels.
Some implants benefit from measurements taken elsewhere in the body, such as glucose monitoring sensors worn by people who are diabetic that trigger insulin pumps near the pancreas, but connecting them wirelessly is difficult. Signals transmitted inside the body are quickly absorbed and can’t travel far, while relay systems outside the body add more hardware that needs charging.
Now, at the National University of Singapore and his colleagues have designed a nickel and copper strip that can transmit the wireless signals from one implant to another across its surface, increasing the efficiency of the transmission by 1000 times compared to just sending it through the body.
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The strip consists of two circles, one for receiving and another for transmitting, connected by a strip of repeating rectangles. The size of the rectangles is tailored to the wavelength of the implant signal, confining it to the surface a bit like an optic fibre encloses light rays.
Kurt and his team tested the strip on the skin of a live pig, successfully connecting a heartbeat monitor and nerve stimulator separated by 40 centimetres.
One drawback is that the fabric is not suitable for applications that require a continuous connection, because the wearer will sometimes need to remove their shirt, says Kurt.
“Compared to normal implant to implant communication, this technique can increase the received signal by three orders of magnitude of receive signal – that’s a really good thing” says at Queen Mary, University of London.
However, the device can currently only transport signals that are oriented in one direction, which means that the implants have to be in that same direction. Making the material work with implants in any orientation would make it more versatile, says Qamar.
Nature Communications
