Improving the Security of the IEEE 802.15.6 Standard for Medical BANs

A Medical Body Area Network (MBAN) is an ensemble of collaborating, potentially heterogeneous, medical devices located inside, on the surface of or around the human body with the objective of tackling one or multiple medical conditions of the MBAN host. These devices-which are a special category of Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs)–collect,...

Zero-Power Defense Done Right: Shielding IMDs from Battery-Depletion Attacks

The wireless capabilities of modern Implantable Medical Devices (IMDs) make them vulnerable to security attacks. One prominent attack, which has disastrous consequences for the patient’s wellbeing, is the battery Denial-of-Service attack whereby the IMD is occupied with continuous authentication requests from an adversary with the aim of...

Mixed-Signal IC With Pulse Width ModulationWireless Telemetry for Implantable CardiacPacemakers in 0.18-μm CMOS

A low-power mixed-signal IC for implantable pacemakers is presented. The proposed system features three independent intracardiac signal readout channels with pulse-width-modulated outputs. Also, the proposed system is capable of measuring the amplitude and phase of the bioimpedance with pulse-width-modulated outputs for use in rate adaptive...

An RF-Powered DLL-Based 2.4-GHz Transmitter for Autonomous Wireless Sensor Nodes

This paper presents the system and circuit design of a compact radio frequency (RF)-powered 2.4-GHz CMOS transmitter (TX) to be used for autonomous wireless sensor nodes (WSNs). The proposed TX utilizes the received dedicated RF signal for both energy harvesting as well as frequency synthesis. A TX RF carrier is derived from the received RF...

Wireless Power Transfer and Optogenetic Stimulation of Freely Moving Rodents

Animal studies are often used to test the feasibility and effectiveness of neuroscience research ideas. Optogenetics is a state-of-the-art technique that allows researchers to control brain activity with light. Current methods are limited as they use tethered setups with the animal in a fixed position, resulting in stress and reduced animal...