Proposed is the development of a wireless ECG chip that communicates using the new Bluetooth networking standard. Bluetooth is a wireless data communication system intended for low cost and low power networking. It is quickly becoming the standard wireless interconnect in portable computing. Industry adoption of the Bluetooth standard coincides with recent advances in system-on-a-chip (SOC) design tools and foundry processes that make custom integrated circuit (IC) design more economically feasible in specialized applications. Bluetooth 2.5 GHz frequency hopping radio and baseband functions are recently available for low-cost CMOS integrated circuit processes. AME proposes to integrate these core designs with proven analog blocks that implement ECG signal amplification, filtering, and digital conversion to create a single chip that allows direct acquisition of ECG signals, to a wireless Bluetooth computer network. An example application of this chip is to combine it with ECG electrode patches to make a system that attaches as a wireless ECG patch to the skin. The phase I project will establish the feasibility of a low-cost, miniature system by completing a simulation of the integrated functional blocks. Phase II will complete the chip design, layout, manufacturing, and testing of a fully integrated Bluetooth ECG chip.
The proposed wireless Bluetooth ECG chip can be applied to a variety of medical applications. For example, the wireless Bluetooth ECG chip can be combined with a flexible lithium polymer battery to create and ECG signal to network connection that can be integrated within an adhesive electrode.
