Implantable medical devixes (IMDs) have been gaining increasing interest for their advantages of precise monitoring and diagnostics of chronic diseases. The usefulness of IMDs resides in improving the power efficiency of the implantsto- surface communication, which consumes most of the battery power. To tackle this challenging requirement, this article introduces a novel optical wireless communication approach that employs an unsynchronized pulse interval modulation technique dedicated to IMDs. A design principle for ultra-low-power optical wireless communication is addressed, and a prototype design is implemented within a small form factor of 10 mm  10 mm  2.3 mm. Experiments over biological channels ensure that the transmitted signal penetrates skin samples in various ranges of thickness with sub-milliwatt-level power consumption as low as 392 mW. Finally, technical challenges that will be faced in the extension of applications are discussed. The developed approach opens new opportunities for realizing ultra-low-power communication electronics for viable future applications in wireless communications, including medical devices, inter-chip communication, and free-space optics.

中文翻译：

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超低功耗植入式医疗设备：光无线通信方法

植入式医疗器械 (IMD) 因其在慢性疾病的精确监测和诊断方面的优势而受到越来越多的关注。IMD 的用处在于提高植入物与表面通信的功率效率，这会消耗大部分电池电量。为了应对这一具有挑战性的要求，本文介绍了一种新颖的光无线通信方法，该方法采用专用于 IMD 的非同步脉冲间隔调制技术。解决了超低功耗光无线通信的设计原则，并在 10 mm × 10 mm × 2.3 mm 的小外形尺寸内实现了原型设计。在生物通道上进行的实验确保传输的信号可以穿透各种厚度范围的皮肤样本，功耗低至 392 mW。最后，讨论了应用扩展中将面临的技术挑战。所开发的方法为实现超低功耗通信电子设备开辟了新的机会，以实现未来无线通信中可行的应用，包括医疗设备、芯片间通信和自由空间光学。