Student project: Communication over wireless power transfer

What you will do

Miniaturization of medical devices is a trend that has been going on for decades. Wearable, implantable and ingestible medical devices are available for a large range of diseases and conditions. With electronics becoming smaller and more powerful, more and more new applications come into range of an unobtrusive medical device that holds many advantages for both the patient and the medical personnel. At the same time, such devices have increasing demands on power and communication with a base station. For implantable and ingestible devices the power source and communication channel are based on radio signals and sometimes even combined. Imec has worked on various prototype products that include such a combined powering and communication scheme. With this internship we are looking to investigate improvements and alternative solutions with the goal of faster and more reliable bidirectional communication while maintaining stable power transfer. The solution must be compatible with standard microcontroller communication peripherals, feasible to implement in small form factor electronics and comply with various medical device and RF regulations.

Tasks consist of:

• Literature study.
• Design and implementation of an alternative communication scheme. Focused on other modulation techniques than we currently use:
  • Simulation;
  • Electronics;
  • Embedded software.
• Report and documentation.

What we do for you

You will be working on cutting-edge R&D in the field of implantable medical devices. You will have the opportunity to lead your own project while having the support of an international team of experts on RF and antenna design, electronics and software. For your work in imec you will receive a fair compensation.

Who you are

• MSc student in Electrical Engineering, Embedded Systems or similar.
• Background in the area of wireless communication and/or electronics design.
• Available for a period of 6 months or more.
• You are self-starter and able to work independently. 
• Be eligible for a studentship placement in the Netherlands. This means that that non-EU/EEA country students that are studying outside of the Netherlands, need to already have a work-permit to be eligible.
• Good with written and verbal English.

Interested

Does this project sound like an interesting next step in your career at imec? Don’t hesitate to submit your application by clicking on ‘APPLY NOW’.
Got some questions about the recruitment process? Martijn Kohl of the Talent Acquisition Team will be happy to assist you.