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Injectable computers

With a radio specifically designed to communicate through tissue, researchers from the Electrical and Computer Engineering are adding another level to a computer platform small enough to fit inside a medical grade syringe.

About this video

With a radio specifically designed to communicate through tissue, Professors David Blaauw and David Wentzloff from the University of Michigan’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department are adding another level to a computer platform small enough to fit inside a medical grade syringe.

With this enabling technology, real time information can be applied to devices monitoring heart fibrillation as well as glucose monitoring for diabetics.

This new radio, designed by Graduate Student Research Assistant Yao Shi, can transmit information from inside the body up to one foot to a data base receiver, more than 5 times the distance from any known radio of equal size.

About the Professor

David Blaauw received his B.S. from Duke University in 1986 and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1991. From 1993 until August 2001, he worked for Motorola, Inc. in Austin, TX, where he was the manager of the High Performance Design Technology group. Since August 2001, he has been on the faculty at the University of Michigan where he is currently a full Professor. His work has focused on VLSI design with particular emphasis on adaptive and low power design.

David Wentzloff received the B.S.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1999, and the S.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Since August, 2007 he has been with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. His research focuses on RF integrated circuits, with an emphasis on ultra-low power design.