Review on next generation wireless power transmission technology for implantable biomedical devices

Wireless power transmission (WPT) is a promising technology that causes drastic changes in the field of biomedical, especially in medical implantable devices such as pacemakers, cardiac defibrillator and cochlear implants. The traditional implantable biomedical devices get power supply from batteries or lead wires through the skin, which not only increases the burden on the patient, but also increases the pain and risk of surgery. To reduce the cost of biomedical devices, risk of wire snapping, periodic surgery to replace the batteries and wireless delivery of energy to these devices is desirable. WPT is a promising technology capable of addressing limitations in implantable devices. This technology not only negates the risk of infection due to cables passing through the skin but also negates need for recurrent surgeries to replace batteries and minimises the size of the device by excising bulky components such as batteries. This paper provides an overview of wireless power transmission history, the basic principle of WPT and their recent research and developments in implantable biomedical applications.