Implantable Wireless Cortical Recording Device for Primates

We report on the performance of a wireless, implantable, neural recording platform. A multitude of neuroengineering challenges exist today in creating practical, chronic multichannel neural recording systems for primate research and human clinical application. Specifically, a) the persistent wired connections limit patient mobility from the recording system, b) the transfer of high bandwidth signals to external (even distant) electronics normally forces premature data reduction, and c) the chronic susceptibility to infection due to the percutaneous nature of the implants all severely hinder the success of neural prosthetic systems. Here we detail a scalable 16-channel microsystem that can employ any of several modalities of power delivery (wire, radio frequency induction, and a photovoltaic energy converter) and data transmission (wire, and transcutaneous infrared laser transmission). Data is reported from a recent sub-chronic (~30 day) rhesus macaque MI implantation.