Ultra Low Power Bioelectronics: Fundamentals, Biomedical Applications, and Bio-Inspired Systems

This book provides, for the first time, a broad and deep treatment of the fields of both ultra low power electronics and bioelectronics. It discusses fundamental principles and circuits for ultra low power electronic design and their applications in biomedical systems. It also discusses how ultra-energy-efficient cellular and neural systems in biology can inspire revolutionary low power architectures in mixed-signal and RF electronics. A wealth of insights and examples from  cochlear implants, brain implants, systems and synthetic biology, cardiac devices, bio-molecular sensing, and bio-inspired systems,  make the book useful and engaging for students and practicing engineers. The book presents a unique, unifying view of ultra low power analog and digital electronics and emphasizes the use of the ultra-energy-efficient subthreshold regime of transistor operation in both. Chapters on batteries, energy harvesting, and the future of energy provide an understanding of fundamental relationships between energy use and energy generation at small scales and at large scales, in biology and in engineering.

Rahul Sarpeshkar leads a research group on Analog Circuits and Biological systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This book is based on material from a highly-rated course that Professor Sarpeshkar has taught at MIT on biomedical, bio-inspired, ultra low power, and analog electronic and system design. He has won several awards for his interdisciplinary bioengineering research including the Packard Fellow Award given to outstanding faculty and two teaching awards at MIT. His work was featured by Google Tech Talks as a highlight of the 2011 'Frontiers of Engineering' conference organized by the National Academy of Engineering. His book provides an intuitive and pioneering approach for analyzing and designing both biological and engineering systems via the universal  language of analog circuits.