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IrDA

Maxim finally shipped out those samples I ordered a few months ago, and I'm going to start breadboarding up some circuits for them to play with.
Question is, how do I test skin transmittivity? I'll select the IrLED and detector to fit into the infrared window, but what do you guys think would be a good way to test skin transmission? If you think it's worthwhile I'll knock together a complete implant with storage, but that seems a bit much to evaluate IrDA.

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  1. lift up your skin, clamp it in place with something, maybe add some light-blocking around the LED so the light has to pass through the skin , in and out. No surgery needed.
  2. Wow, finally. I'm excited to see how this goes. Maybe you could use some pig skin or something, bacon? :D
  3. um... if you are an uncircumcised male you have a pretty easy way to test light transmission of skin.
  4. Not applicable, haha
  5. I have an article on the light transmission properties of skin (LINK). Found it while I was looking for research for my Neuro-interface project.
  6. My other concern is how to coat something so it's not going to dissipate a lot of the IR, silicone will fuzz it up and anything opaque is right out.
  7. @ElectricFeel, perhaps Parylene? You could still see the NorthStar's Led plenty bright through that. Maybe just a bigger LED if you need to. I was also thinking of the apparatus that you would use to program it. You could always have some sort light blocking material around the programming site.
  8. What do you mean to program it? You would use the same data link channel as the other data.
  9. Sorry, *Data Transfer Site/Data Transfer Apparatus
  10. I wouldn't get stressed up about the implant coating diffusing the light. The skin will do that anyway. 2 mm more or less hardly make a difference. You'll have to drive it half duplex with a protocol to avoid collisions anyway. Nothing too hard tho.
  11. You always want to optimize at the physical layer before you start designing protocols. Good footing leads to better results, and I always try to consider every possible failure mode before I get started.
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