Summary:
UCLA researchers in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have developed a miniaturized, batteryless biopotential recorder with adaptive bandwidth, low power consumption, and synchronized data acquisition for next-generation implantable medical devices.
Background:
Biopotential signals—including electrocardiograms, electrocorticography, electromyograms, electrooculograms, local field potentials, and action potentials—are critical physiological markers for both diagnosis and treatment. High-precision biopotential sensors enable the development of advanced wearable and implantable medical devices. However, each signal demands careful bandwidth management through filtering and tuning. Existing solutions, such as tunable filters, increase power consumption and hinder battery-free operation. On-chip tunable clocks provide an alternative, but they require external control, making them unsuitable for implants, while asynchronous data transfer between sensing nodes and external receivers further complicates communication. Consequently, there remains an unmet need for a device that can automatically adjust bandwidth, synchronize data acquisition, and maximize power efficiency.
Innovation:
Professor Aydin Babakhani and his research team have developed a miniaturized, batteryless, wireless biopotential recorder featuring clock-tunable bandwidth control. The analog front end (AFE) bandwidth can be adaptively adjusted through clock modulation, enabling efficient operation in low-power wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. This approach allows precise control over sampling rate and power consumption while ensuring synchronized uplink data recovery. For multi-band sensing applications, the system dynamically adjusts amplifier bandwidths to accommodate diverse signal types.
Key performance highlights include a 5 cm WPT operating range, automatic bandwidth tuning from 250 Hz to 10,000 Hz with 40 dB gain, and ultra-low power consumption of just 32 μW on a 180 nm chip. This innovation represents a major advance in biopotential signal acquisition, offering a practical solution for improved diagnosis and treatment of conditions that were previously challenging to monitor.
Potential Applications:
● Cardiac monitoring via ECG
● Neural interfaces via ECoG and LFP
● Muscle activity monitoring via EMG
● Eye movement tracking via EOG
● Multi-band physiological sensing
● Implantable devices and wireless health monitoring
Advantages:
● Low power consumption
● Miniaturized chip
● Batteryless design
● Adaptive bandwidth tuning for diverse signals
● Synchronized data acquisition
State of Development:
The miniaturized sensing node has been successfully tested in vivo on a rodent model.
Related Publications:
● J. Jang, I. Habibagahi, R. P. Mathews, W. Gwak, et al., “A Wirelessly Powered, Battery-less, Miniaturized Microchip for Implantable Biopotential-Monitoring Applications,” IEEE Sensors Journal, pp. 1–1, June 2025, doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2025.3556921.
● H. J. Sharemi and A. Babakhani, “Design of a dual-mode coilreuse data acquisition system for miniaturized wirelessly powered biopotential sensing nodes,” in 2024 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC), 2024, pp. 59–62.
● J. Jang, I. Habibagahi, H. Rahmani, and A. Babakhani, “Wirelessly powered, batteryless closed-loop biopotential recording ic for implantable leadless cardiac monitoring applications,” in 2021 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS), 2021, pp. 1–4.
● R. P. Mathews, H. Jafari Sharemi, I. Habibagahi, J. Jang, A. Ray, and A. Babakhani, “Towards a miniaturized, low power, batteryless, and wireless bio-potential sensing node,” in 2022 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS), 2022, pp. 404–408.
Reference:
UCLA Case No. 2026-015
Lead Inventor:
Aydin Babakhani