Zero-Power Acoustic Wake-Up Receiver Based on DMUT Transmitter, PMUTS Arrays Receivers and MEMS Switches for Intrabody Links

Abstract

This paper demonstrates, for the first time, a zero-power acoustic wake-up receiver for intrabody links, allowing Implanted Medical Devices (IMDs) to minimize the IDLE power consumption. This architecture is based on Directly Modulated Ultrasonic Transducers (dMUT) made of Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) as transmitter (TX), a Piezoelectric Micro Machined Ultrasonic Transducer (pMUT) array as receiver (RX), and a Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) switch. The role of the dMUTs and the pMUT array is to establish an acoustic link sensitive to signals as low as 50mV <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">pp</sub> peak-peak at a distance of 10cm. This low signal triggers the switch which will turn on the IMDs from an IDLE-state to a full power mode.