Hexagonal Stimulation Digital Controller Design and Verification for Wireless Subretinal Implant Device

• Main Authors: Abbasi, W. (Author), Choi, H. (Author), Kim, J. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: Controlled drug delivery; Controllers; Cost effectiveness; digital controller; Digital controller designs; Digital controllers; Field programmable gate arrays (FPGA); Field programmables; Field-programmable gated array; field-programmable gated arrays; hexagonal stimulation; Hexagonal stimulation; Implant devices; Implants (surgical); Integrated circuit design; Micro/nano; Ophthalmology; Retinal implant technology; Subretinal implants; wireless telemetry system; Wireless telemetry systems
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 Significant progress has been made in the field of micro/nano-retinal implant technologies. However, the high pixel range, power leakage, reliability, and lifespan of retinal implants are still questionable. Active implantable devices are safe, cost-effective, and reliable. Although a device that can meet basic safety requirements set by the Food and Drug Administration and the European Union is reliable for long-term use and provides control on current and voltage parameters, it will be expensive and cannot be commercially successful. This study proposes an economical, fully controllable, and configurable wireless communication system based on field-programmable gated arrays (FPGAs) that were designed with the ability to cope with the issues that arise in retinal implantation. This system incorporates hexagonal biphasic stimulation pulses generated by a digital controller that can be fully controlled using an external transmitter. The integration of two separate domain analog systems and a digital controller based on FPGAs is proposed in this study. The system was also implemented on a microchip and verified using in vitro results. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.