A wirelessly tunable low drop-out regulator for subcutaneous muscle prosthesis

This paper presents a design technique to implement wirelessly tunable low-dropout regulators (LDOs) with application in electrical stimulation of ionic electroactive polymers (iEAPs) used in subcutaneous muscle prosthesis. The proposed technique, built upon the concept of frequency-based telemetry, converts the frequency of the sinusoidal signal at the primary side into an electrical current at the secondary side that will be proportional to the input frequency. This current is then used to change the reference level of the LDO and therefore, its output voltage, thereby, providing the capability to tune the output of LDO remotely. The proposed technique is designed using IBM 0.13 μm BiCMOS technology. Simulation results suggest that the proposed wirelessly tunable LDO can be used as a reliable stimulator for iEAPs to allow different degrees of movement for the subcutaneous muscle prosthesis, enabling immediate movement restoration, upon implantation.

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