Mauricio Gallegos, a student from Clemson University, along with Austin Mesa from Florida International University, worked in the lab of Dr. Juan Guttierrez to design an implantable biomedical sensor.
Abstract: The goal of this project was to design and miniaturize an implantable biomedical telemetry sensor that provides continuous, long-term telemetry data that could, in turn, be used with predictive algorithms to pre-diagnose disease or predict the severity of an oncoming disease. Current sensors that accomplish the same goal are power-hungry due to radio transmission and bulky due to a large battery, making them poor implants. Our team designed a proof-of- concept device for telemetry data transmission that uses visible light instead of radio waves, which should theoretically reduce overall battery consumption and minimize size. The system features two components, one for data collection and transmission, and the other for data reception. These components work simultaneously to provide real-time telemetry data that can be analyzed further. For our particular transmission device, the sensors used were a 3-axis accelerometer, which detects the overall activity of the subject being studied, and a temperature sensor which provides a general measurement of biological health. This hardware along with code loaded to the microcontroller allows the system to transmit live data through an LED, which is instantaneously received by the photoresistor on the receiving end. By parsing and interpreting the binary data, it can be organized and plotted for further analysis.