Bioelectronic Network Enables Devices to Communicate Through Body Tissue and Coordinate Therapy

Conventional wireless signals do not travel well through tissue, while the antennas and power supplies they require can make implants larger. This limits where sensors and therapeutic devices can be placed relative to one another. To address this challenge, researchers have developed a system that lets devices communicate through body tissue.

Engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech; Atlanta, GA, USA) developed a technology called the Smart Wireless Autonomous Networking System (SWANS). It uses the natural ionic conductivity of tissue to carry small electrical pulses between wearable devices and implants. Each implant responds selectively to pulses of a programmed voltage and duration. The network can coordinate signals from multiple sensors to trigger an implanted actuator, such as a device that stimulates a nerve. 

The researchers demonstrated the system in a rat with a network of sensors and neural interfaces. Sensors detected movement of the animal’s front paw, prompting another device to stimulate a hind-leg muscle and cause it to contract. The response simulated part of the rat’s walking pattern. The work was published in Science on September 24, 2026, with collaborators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The low-power design allowed the team to make implants smaller than 3 millimeters, which can be delivered by syringe rather than surgery. Passive electronic components use essentially no power while awaiting a trigger. In the researchers’ experiments, an actuator triggered once daily was estimated to last about a year before replacement, and the electrical pulses caused no damage to tissue samples. SWANS carries simple signals between devices, while an external wearable hub handles larger data exchanges and coordinates sensor readings and potential therapeutic actions. 

“Our ultimate hope is to be able to fully automate human health — to be able to deliver a therapy exactly when it’s needed, where it’s needed, and to do so in a coordinated fashion across the body. With our new system, you can now coordinate multiple sensors and actuators in completely disparate locations of the body, which is a huge step forward in the quest for personalized bioelectronic medicine,” said Alex Abramson, senior author and assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. 

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