4 Biomedical Signal Transceivers

With the growing costs of healthcare, the need for mobile health monitoring devices is critical. A wireless transceiver provides a cost effective way to transmit biomedical signals to the various personal electronic devices, such as computers, cellular devices, and other mobile devices. Different kinds of biomedical signals can be processed and transmitted by these devices, including electroencephalograph (EEG), electrocardiograph (ECG), and electromyography (EMG). By utilizing wireless transmission, the user gains freedom to connect with fewer constraints to their personal devices to view and monitor their health condition. In this chapter, in the first few sections, we will introduce the reader with the basic design of the biomedical transceivers and some of the design issues. In the subsequent sections, we will be presenting design challenges for wireless transceivers, specially using a common wireless protocol Bluetooth. Furthermore, we will share our experience of implementing a biomedical transceiver for ECG signals and processing them. We conclude the discussion with current trends and future work. The information that is being presented is meant to be applied for all types of biomedical signals. However, some examples are reserved to one type of biomedical signal for simplicity. In this case, the example of an ECG signal and device is used. Even though some sections of the chapter rely heavy on this example, the concepts explored in this chapter can still be extrapolated for other biomedical signals.