Body Area Networks: The Missing Communication Layer for Distributed Implants
Every implantable medical device system on the market today faces the same unresolved constraint: nodes that sense and nodes that stimulate cannot talk to each other directly through the body. Some systems avoid the problem by collocating sensing and stimulation in a single unit, limiting therapy to one site. Others connect separate implants with wired leads, which fail mechanically, constrain placement, and cannot scale to distributed architectures. A few pair separate implants using RF telemetry, but only by routing through an external relay or processor, adding latency, external hardware, and battery burden, and ruling out full implantation.
Probingon licenses FAT-IBC (Fat-tissue Intra-Body Communication) to medical device manufacturers as a communication infrastructure layer. FAT-IBC uses the natural waveguiding properties of subcutaneous fat tissue at 2.4 GHz to create a secure, cable-free communication channel between independent implanted nodes — operating through a different physical medium from any existing wireless technology. Originating from a decade of research at Uppsala University's Microwave in Medical Engineering Group, FAT-IBC removes the colocation constraint entirely, making distributed multi-node therapy architecturally possible for the first time.
Validated Performance:
- 92 Mb/s sustained throughput (256-QAM), peer-reviewed and published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (IEEE TBME 2024)
- Flexible wearable antenna system validated in human volunteer trials and across obese and athletic torso phantoms, with SAR confirmed at 0.3061 W/kg — well within the 1.6 W/kg IEEE safety limit; peer-reviewed and published in Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio, 2026)
- Sub-2 ms end-to-end latency demonstrated in H2020 B-CRATOS
- 30–50 cm propagation distance, covering torso and limbs
- 60+ dB signal attenuation outside the body at 10 cm — inherent security without encryption dependency
- TRL 6 demonstrated within H2020 B-CRATOS, independently validated by an EU expert panel confirming the physics-based advantage
Intellectual Property:
The core physics of FAT-IBC — fat tissue as a wireless waveguide — is protected by a published PCT application (WO 2026/024215 A1), with national phase entries in target markets in progress and additional applications in preparation covering wireless pain management and closed-loop organ control
Platform Reach:
FAT-IBC is a platform technology. Validated first in neuromodulation, the same physical layer extends naturally into BCI, cardiac, and pelvic health applications, and into any implant architecture that could benefit from direct node-to-node communication: replacing the wired lead, replacing the external relay, or opening a path to multi-site therapy for single-site devices that have never needed a second node before. Build once. License everywhere.
Exploring FAT-IBC as an OEM partner or potential investor? See our Investors page.