A 650-uW 30-Mbps Galvanic Coupling Communication Receiver for Bionic Arms

Abstract

This paper presents a galvanic coupling communication (GCC) receiver for bionic arms. The detachability of the bionic arms results in various changes such as contact impedance variation and electrode misalignment. Its dynamic usage conditions may lead to contact with metallic objects. Moreover, the GCC has an inherent drawback of narrow channel bandwidth, which limits the communication speed. In this work, we demonstrate that the GCC can offer robust operation under varying channel conditions by using HFSS simulations. In addition, by applying a cascaded continuous-time linear equalizer, the proposed receiver widens the bandwidth from 1 MHz to 60 MHz. Implemented in 0.18-um CMOS process, a 30-Mbps GCC receiver operates successfully for bionic arms with robustness against channel condition variations while following body safety guidelines and consuming 650 uW.