Innovation Pipeline
Probingon’s technologies originate at Uppsala University’s Microwaves in Medical Engineering Group (MMG) at the Ångström Laboratory, led by Dr Robin Augustine as scientific PI. MMG advances each technology through fundamental research, pre-clinical validation and prototype iteration. Probingon holds full rights to the intellectual property developed by MMG.
Probingon does not maintain an in-house laboratory or permanent engineering staff. This is by design. The company operates a distributed network model in which downstream development is managed through contracted specialist R&D partners, coordinated centrally by the CEO and overseen by the board.
The sections below describe the integrated technology ecosystem under development at MMG, the governance model that connects university research to commercial execution, and the operative structure that carries each technology through to launch.
The Body-Centric Ecosystem
MMG’s research programme is built around a single architectural principle: the human body is a coordinated system, and the technologies that serve it must work as one. Clinical wearables generate diagnostic data. Intrabody communication moves that data securely between nodes. Brain-computer interfaces read neural intent. Bionics act on it. Each technology area at MMG is developed to function within this integrated body-centric ecosystem.
The clinical consequence is a shift from isolated, single-function devices toward coordinated systems that can sense, communicate, interpret and respond across multiple sites in and on the body. This is the technical foundation for closed-loop therapy in bioelectric medicine and for clinical-grade continuous monitoring at the point of care.
Dielectric Microwave Sensors
Microwave sensors penetrate biological tissue in a non-ionising and harmless manner. The dielectric properties of tissue scatter the microwave signal in ways that are specific to the composition and condition of the target structure, and this scatter can be measured by radio sensor receivers to produce spectral data for diagnostics.
MMG develops dielectric sensors across a range of clinical targets. Bone sensors support fracture healing assessment and osteoporosis monitoring in orthopaedics. Skin and muscle sensors enable tissue characterisation for wound management and body composition analysis. Brain pressure sensors provide non-invasive intracranial pressure monitoring, addressing a critical unmet need in neurology and neurosurgery. Microwave dielectric spectroscopy opens a pathway to continuous sleep diagnostics and neurological monitoring.
Within the body-centric ecosystem, these sensors serve as the diagnostic layer: they generate the clinical data that the communication and actuation layers carry and act upon. The breadth of the sensor portfolio reflects the versatility of the underlying physics and the range of clinical problems that dielectric sensing can address.
Fat Intrabody Communication (FAT-IBC)
FAT-IBC is a bi-directional wireless microwave communication link that propagates through the fat layer beneath the skin, confined to the interface between lossy and lossless tissue. The result is a secure, high-bandwidth, low-power data channel within the human body, with minimal interference from external devices.
The clinical significance of FAT-IBC is architectural. Today’s implantable medical devices are constrained by colocation: sensing and stimulation must happen from the same unit, because no existing wireless technology can connect independent implanted nodes reliably inside the body. FAT-IBC removes that constraint. It enables distributed in-body networks where independent wireless nodes can coordinate across multiple sites, opening the path to genuine multi-site closed-loop therapy.
Within the body-centric ecosystem, FAT-IBC is the communication layer. It connects the sensors that generate clinical data to the implants and prosthetics that act on it, and it provides the physical link between brain-computer interfaces and the bionics they control. Without a reliable intrabody communication layer, the ecosystem remains a collection of isolated devices. FAT-IBC is what makes it a system.
Brain-Computer Interfaces and Bionics
Brain-computer interfaces decode neural signals to read motor intent, sensory feedback or cognitive state. Bionics translate that intent into physical action through neurally controlled prosthetics and stimulation devices. Together, they form the neural control and actuation layer of the body-centric ecosystem.
FAT-IBC provides the communication backbone that connects BCI to bionics. A wireless neural data link between a patient’s brain-computer interface and the prosthetics or stimulation devices it controls eliminates the need for percutaneous wiring, enabling higher bandwidth, lower energy consumption and a clinically practical wearable form factor. This capability is critical for restoring mobility in patients with loss of neural function due to spinal cord injury or neurodegenerative disease.
BCI and bionics are currently in the research phase at MMG. The integration of neural interfaces with FAT-IBC and dielectric sensors is where the full potential of the body-centric ecosystem converges: sensing tissue condition, reading neural intent, communicating across the body, and actuating a therapeutic response, all as a coordinated system.
Technology Governance
Dr Robin Augustine serves as CTO and Chairman of the Board. During the upstream research phase, he sets the technology architecture and scientific roadmap for each technology in the portfolio, and ensures that the individual technology areas develop as components of the integrated ecosystem rather than in isolation. Once a technology moves into downstream development, Robin provides strategic technology governance at board level, ensuring architectural coherence across the portfolio as applications advance toward launch.
Robin’s role is deliberately focused on the upstream, where the foundational science is created and the ecosystem architecture is set, and on strategic governance, where architectural decisions have the greatest impact. Probingon is a commercialisation vehicle, not a research organisation, and the CTO function reflects that structure.
Operative Network Model
From the point at which a technology is ready for downstream development, Probingon manages all further work through contracted specialist R&D partners selected for each programme on the basis of domain fit, regulatory experience and manufacturing readiness. Production is handled by qualified contract manufacturers in cooperation with OEM partners and distributors.
Operative diligence for contracted R&D is managed by the board, with the CEO as executive lead. Probingon retains direct responsibility for programme management, regulatory affairs, quality, sales and marketing, and all administrative functions. The only activity that remains external is production, which is carried out by contract manufacturers.
This structure allows Probingon to access world-class university research infrastructure without carrying the fixed cost of an in-house laboratory, and to scale operative R&D capacity elastically through milestone-gated partner contracts rather than permanent headcount.
For more information about MMG’s research programme, consult: Microwaves in Medical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Uppsala University.