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Optical Wireless Data Transfer Through Biotissues: Practical Evidence and Initial Results

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Body Area Networks: Smart IoT and Big Data for Intelligent Health Management (BODYNETS 2019)

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Abstract

Light has been used in many medical applications to monitor health status and diagnose diseases. Examples include optical sensing through nearinfrared (NIR) spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, and pulse oximetry. In this article, we propose and demonstrate digital communications through biological tissues using near-infrared light. There are many possible uses to an optical system transmitting information across tissues. In current practices, implants predominantly use radio frequency (RF) radiation for communication. However, molecular biology restricts use of the RF in terms of power, frequency etc., while interference and security issues represent technological challenges in RF communication. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel way of employing NIR light for wireless transmission of data through biological tissues. A phantom mimicking a biological tissue is illuminated with a NIR 810 nm wavelength light-emitting diode (LED), and a light detector with line-of-sight alignment is placed on receiving end. An experimental testbed for Optical Communications through Biotissue (OCBT) was designed and implemented using mostly off-the-shelf components. Measurements for different levels of optical output power and thicknesses were carried out. Transmission rates as high as several tens of kilobits-per-second across several millimeters of tissues were achieved. Hardware limitations in modulating the baseband signal prevented achieving higher data rates. In addition, a high-resolution picture was successfully transmitted through biotissue. The communication system as well as details of the testbed implementations are presented in this paper. Moreover, initial performance measures as well as suggestions for potential use of this optical communication system are also presented and discussed.

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Acknowledgement

This research has been funded by Academy of Finland HERONET project and partially funded by Academy of Finland (6Genesis Flagship - grant 318927 and grants 290596, 314369).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Iqrar Ahmed & Marcos Katz

  2. Opto-Electronics and Measurement Techniques, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Alexander Bykov, Alexey Popov & Igor Meglinski

Authors
  1. Iqrar Ahmed
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  2. Alexander Bykov
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  3. Alexey Popov
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  4. Igor Meglinski
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  5. Marcos Katz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Iqrar Ahmed .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Lorenzo Mucchi

  2. Centre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Matti Hämäläinen

  3. University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Sara Jayousi

  4. University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Simone Morosi

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© 2019 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Ahmed, I., Bykov, A., Popov, A., Meglinski, I., Katz, M. (2019). Optical Wireless Data Transfer Through Biotissues: Practical Evidence and Initial Results. In: Mucchi, L., Hämäläinen, M., Jayousi, S., Morosi, S. (eds) Body Area Networks: Smart IoT and Big Data for Intelligent Health Management. BODYNETS 2019. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 297. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34833-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34833-5_16

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-34832-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-34833-5

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