Implant and In-Body Communications: The ETSI SmartBAN Vision

In this review, we envisioned how the new ETSI SmartBAN wireless technology for smart body area networks can be utilised in implant and in-body communications. The use cases can be links, for example, between in-body medical devices (IMDs) such as wireless capsule endoscopes and their on-body counterpart, or between smart implants, in general. First, we briefly introduced the current trends of implant and in-body communications and showed some application examples of IMDs utilised in in-body wireless communications. The advantage of in-body ultra wideband communications was then discussed to highlight the ETSI SmartBAN approach for in-body communications standardisation.