5 ms·

The "jacks" they are referring to are the openings in the skin where the wires come out of, I'm guessing one for data and one for power. Artificial openings in

by dm2 13y ago

The "jacks" they are referring to are the openings in the skin where the wires come out of, I'm guessing one for data and one for power. Artificial openings in the body are very difficult to keep from getting infected. http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/images/FF.Sight.SH.29337.r2_f.jpg http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/images/FF.Sight...

derekp7 13y ago
So why not use RF for data, and magnetic induction for power?
- dm2 13y ago
  The device in the article was implanted over 10 years ago. I'm sure there are research teams looking into the wireless methods, in 2002 it just wasn't possible yet. Magnetic induction has it's own challenges, especially when being used with a device inside living tissue. Wireless power for medical devices has only been practical for the past couple years, and even now the technology is in it's infancy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer#Timeline_of_wireless_power http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer#Timeli...
- pocketstar 13y ago
  This would be prohibitively large to implant in the brain. Betavoltaics could provide a novel power source, I believe they are used in some pacemakers. RF would be a problem because cancer. People forget that magnetic induction can also be used for data and power transfer simultaneously, I believe they use this approach with some cochlear implants.
  - robryk 13y ago
    > RF would be a problem because cancer. Could you provide some evidence for this? Also, isn't magnetic induction basically RF?
    - pocketstar 13y ago
      electromagnetic radiation(photons) is VERY VERY VERY different from magnetic fields(fucking magnets how do they work?) the driving physics behind magnetic induction. Yes RF is non-ionizing, but research linking it to cancer is generally inconclusive. So I concede I was too bold saying RF causes cancer, but right now we just don't know. It would probably be possible to power it with RF power harvesting and multiplex the MEA with a MSP430. Now that would be a fun research project.
      - robryk 13y ago
        In order to transfer power using magnetic induction you need a _variable in time_ magnetic field, which causes a variable in time electric field to appear. That seems to me to be exactly the description of an electromagnetic wave.
pocketstar 13y ago
The article says he had two microelectrode arrays(MEA) implanted, one jack per array, The MEA was probably a standard Utah MEA, 10x10 multiplexed to 100 electrodes, so, just 20 leads per array per "data port"

by dm2 13y ago

derekp7 13y ago

So why not use RF for data, and magnetic induction for power?

dm2 13y ago
The device in the article was implanted over 10 years ago. I'm sure there are research teams looking into the wireless methods, in 2002 it just wasn't possible yet. Magnetic induction has it's own challenges, especially when being used with a device inside living tissue. Wireless power for medical devices has only been practical for the past couple years, and even now the technology is in it's infancy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer#Timeline_of_wireless_power http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer#Timeli...
pocketstar 13y ago
This would be prohibitively large to implant in the brain. Betavoltaics could provide a novel power source, I believe they are used in some pacemakers. RF would be a problem because cancer. People forget that magnetic induction can also be used for data and power transfer simultaneously, I believe they use this approach with some cochlear implants.
- robryk 13y ago
  > RF would be a problem because cancer. Could you provide some evidence for this? Also, isn't magnetic induction basically RF?
  - pocketstar 13y ago
    electromagnetic radiation(photons) is VERY VERY VERY different from magnetic fields(fucking magnets how do they work?) the driving physics behind magnetic induction. Yes RF is non-ionizing, but research linking it to cancer is generally inconclusive. So I concede I was too bold saying RF causes cancer, but right now we just don't know. It would probably be possible to power it with RF power harvesting and multiplex the MEA with a MSP430. Now that would be a fun research project.
    - robryk 13y ago
      In order to transfer power using magnetic induction you need a _variable in time_ magnetic field, which causes a variable in time electric field to appear. That seems to me to be exactly the description of an electromagnetic wave.

pocketstar 13y ago

The article says he had two microelectrode arrays(MEA) implanted, one jack per array, The MEA was probably a standard Utah MEA, 10x10 multiplexed to 100 electrodes, so, just 20 leads per array per "data port"