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Invited Talk: Prof. Dr. Peter Neukomm

Abstract

Passive Telemetry by Absorption Modulation is based on two coupled coils, with energy transfer from the outer base unit to the implanted transponder and with bi-directional communication. The extracorporeal feeding coil (FC) is weakly coupled to the implanted transponder coil (TC) at a variable working distance (WD), which has to be defined at the very beginning of a new project.

In practice an unexpected loss of telemetry communication occurs at several specific working distances: The carrier supplies the transponder with sufficient energy, but no signal modulation can be detected any more. We call such areas here “Black Hole”.

Following the presented design rules a system can be realized that shows a power transmission efficiency of > 20% and a telemetry bandwidth of > 5 % of the carrier frequency fo at distances from 0 to maximum WD, without falling into the Black Hole.

The paper discussed here describes an optimized coupled coil system for a 14 x 4 mm transponder with experimental data, model evaluation and pSpice simulation. This coil system belongs to a passive telemetry system for an implantable thermal flow sensor for neurological application. The RF to DC conversion efficiency is 28 %; the sensor signal is A/D converted with 12 Bit resolution during a RF interruption of 1 msec and transmitted every 20 msec by remote control.

Biography

Peter A. Neukomm was born in Baden, Switzerland, in 1943. After his apprentice in mechanic at BBC (now ABB) he graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ), Zürich in 1970 and received the Dr. sc. techn. from ETHZ in 1979 for his work on body-mounted antennas. Between 1970 and 1981 he conducted the measuring science at the Biomechanics Laboratory at ETHZ. Between 1981 and 1987 he was project manager for new product evaluation at ETA, Grenchen and founded the company PEWA, Dietikon, producing a miniature CO2 piston engine.

Between 1987 and 2004 he was at the Laboratory of Electrical Engineering Design, ETHZ, teaching Sensor and Actuator Systems. In 1990 he awarded the prize form Technopark Zürich for passive telemetry and 1993-1996 he was partner of the European ESPRIT III project MICROMEDES. Since 2004, retired from ETHZ, he continues to lecture Sensor Technology and helps in medical application of Passive Telemetry projects at the Bern University of applied Sciences, Biel.

His main fields of research are measuring techniques and passive telemetry for biomedical application.

Volker Koch, 10/2008