While thousands of engineers from around the world convened earlier this month in Honolulu, Hawaii at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium to learn about the latest trends in RF and microwave/millimeter-wave technologies and products, the keynote talk by Professor Ryuji Kohno of Yokohama National University signaled a new direction for advanced wireless communications. In the keynote speech by the professor, who is also the director of the University's Center of Medical Information Communication Technology, the focus was on medical info-communication technology (ICT) as the next frontier for advanced wireless communications.

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With an aging population in Western countries, as well as Japan, telemedical care and attention is gaining momentum. And, this new advanced “medical ICT” can be used to address this serious problem, stated Kohno. His keynote presentation showed that the percentage of total population aged 60 years or older in 2002 was 10% worldwide. This is projected to rise to 21% in 2050, according to the presenter's slides. As a result, he stated, “medical divide” would be a new serious problem after “digital divide.” And, “ubiquitous medicine” based on advanced ICT, can address this emerging problem.

Combining broadband mobile electronics with miniaturization in sensors, implantable ICs and radio transceiver chips, healthcare is rapidly changing. Consequently, new services and applications are emerging that will enable real-time medical sensing and treatment from a distance. Thus, taking ubiquitous medical care to a whole new level.

In order to encourage global collaboration as well as plant many research, development and business seeds in academia and industry, the keynote speech introduced medical ICT projects and activities in Japan. According to Kohno, medical ICT is engaged as one of the most significant innovations in a new Japanese governmental primary plan for promoting science and technology. Under a five-year plan (FY2006-FY2010), called “u-Japan Plan, the Japanese government is aiming to establish a ubiquitous ad-hoc network for medical services that is safe and reliable.

To implement such a ubiquitous medical healthcare service, advanced ICT will exploit technologies like RFIDs, network robots, sensor networks, and mobile communication systems based on advances in ultrawideband (UWB), software-defined radio (SDR), and multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technologies. Consequently, he added, further R&D is needed in areas such as ultralow-power amplifiers and LNAs, software-reconfigurable RF, antennas on implanted chips and cognitive sensor robots. In addition, packaging technology is critical to wearable and implanted devices.

Furthermore, Kohno said that improvements in implanted devices for humans, in combination with implantable radio chips is facilitating in-body communications for supporting new monitoring, diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Toward that end, Kohno described a wireless capsule endoscope developed by Olympus that enables monitoring of the small intestine in a non-invasive manner. Interestingly, in this issue, semiconductor supplier Zarlink discusses its ultralow-power radio chip that is implantable and can be combined with pacemakers, nerve stimulators, drug pumps and other implantable medical devices. (See, “Implantable ultralow-power radio chip facilitates in-body communications,” p. 20.)

Likewise, the keynoter showed that wireless networks can be combined with robots to perform telesurgery. High accuracy positioning and high throughput data transmission opens the door for real use of telesurgery using robotics.

Speaking of in-body communications, the keynoter also highlighted the emergence of wireless body area network (BAN) for medical applications. In fact, toward that goal, IEEE802.15.BAN has been formed to aid the standardization effort. In essence, with a coverage of 2-5 m, BAN is being targeted at three major categories — medical healthcare service, assistance to people with disabilities, and body interaction and entertainment. Meanwhile, BAN is a new abbreviation that you can add to your list of LAN, WAN, MAN and PAN.

In conclusion, Professor Kohno asked the RF and microwave engineers to join this effort as medical ICT brings a new paradigm to MTT-S.