Ultra-miniature smart wireless microsystems hold key for wearable and implanted body area networks

Neuchatel, 22 March 2011 – A European consortium lead by CSEM successfully launched the EC-funded WiserBAN project, with the objective of developing innovative ultra-miniature RF microsystems for wireless Body Area Networks (BAN) targeting primarily wearable and implanted devices for healthcare, biomedical, wellness and lifestyle applications.

The WiserBAN project will address primarily the following wearable & implantable use cases: hearing instruments, cardiac implants, insulin pumps and cochlear implants. In such applications where miniaturization and unobtrusiveness are a must, only limited wireless connectivity and autonomy can be achieved using today’s wireless solutions because of their excessive size and power consumption. WiserBAN will push wireless microsystem technology beyond state of the art by delivering an ultra-tiny and ultra low-energy radio that will enable WBAN capability and novel product perspectives for wearable and implanted devices for use in lifestyle and bio-medical applications.

The WiserBAN project will therefore generate a major impact on the quality of life of European citizens, in particular for improving the comfort and access to ICT for impaired and disabled people of all ages carrying implants or wearing medical devices, as well as reducing the risk of social exclusion. The research plan concerns the extreme miniaturization of BAN devices, and will focus on the areas of ultra low-power MEMS-based radio SoC (System on Chip), RF and low-frequency MEMS and miniature components, miniature reconfigurable antennas, miniaturized and cost-effective SiP (System in Package), sensor signal processing and flexible communication protocols.

The project will also enable major technological breakthroughs in the BAN area and will provide an innovative solution by pushing the state-of-the-art much further through a comprehensive top-down system approach. Specifically, WiserBAN will develop highly integrated “radio & antenna & data processing” microsystems which will reduce significantly the barriers in terms of size and power consumption of existing wireless solutions.

About WiserBAN, an European funded project

WiserBAN is an Integrated Project co-funded by the European Commission under Framework Programme 7.

The project is coordinated by CSEM, which hosted the kick-off meeting of the WiserBAN project in September 2010, in Neuchatel, Switzerland. The project duration is 36 months and the consortium consists of leading research organisations, universities and enterprises from all over Europe: CSEM SA(coordinator), RTD Talos, CEA, Fraunhofer, VTT, Sorin, TDK-EPC, MED-EL, Siemens Audiologische Technik, Debiotech, Signal Generix, the Technical University of Berlin and the University of Bologna.

Further information is available at www.wiserban.eu

About CSEM

CSEM, Centre Suisse d’ Electronique et de Microtechnique (Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology), founded in 1984, is a private research and development center specializing in microtechnology, nanotechnology, microelectronics, system engineering and communications technologies. It offers its customers and industry partners custom-made innovative solutions based on its knowledge of the market and technological expertise derived from applied research. Having founded several start-ups, it contributes to developing Switzerland as an industrial location. To date, a total of 29 such enterprises, with more than 500 employees, have been launched by CSEM.

Approximately 400 highly qualified and specialized employees from various scientific and technical disciplines work for CSEM in Neuchâtel, Zurich, Basel, Alpnach and Landquart. They represent more than 30 nationalities and constitute the basis of the company’s creativity, dynamism and potential for innovation.

Further information is available at www.csem.ch