A Low-Power PLL-Less Wideband OOK Wireless Neural-Signal Transmitter for Miniaturized Neural Interfaces with In Vivo Validation in Freely Moving Mice

Shu, Guijun; Zhang, Fangning; Yang, Chuang; Jia, Hongyu; Wang, Xiao; Yin, Ming

doi:10.3390/bios16080405

Open AccessArticle

A Low-Power PLL-Less Wideband OOK Wireless Neural-Signal Transmitter for Miniaturized Neural Interfaces with In Vivo Validation in Freely Moving Mice

by

Guijun Shu

^1,2,

Fangning Zhang

^1,2,

Chuang Yang

^1,2,

Hongyu Jia

^1,2,

Xiao Wang

^1,2,*

and

Ming Yin

^1,2,*

¹

State Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570100, China

²

Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of Hainan Province, One Health Institute, Hainan University, Haikou 570100, China

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Biosensors 2026, 16(8), 405; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16080405

Submission received: 23 June 2026 / Revised: 18 July 2026 / Accepted: 24 July 2026 / Published: 25 July 2026

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Implantable, Wireless Biosensors and Biodevices for Neuroscience Research, 2nd Edition)

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Abstract

High-channel-count neural recording requires wireless links with high throughput, low power, and compact implementation, yet commercial protocols and phase-locked loop (PLL)-based transmitters often trade data rate against power and complexity. We present a low-power, PLL-less wideband on–off keying (OOK) neural-signal transmitter fabricated in a 180 nm CMOS process. The transmitter employs a free-running inductor–capacitor voltage-controlled oscillator (LC-VCO), a Gilbert mixer for OOK modulation and reverse isolation, and a current-reuse stacked power amplifier. It consumes 8 mA from a 3.3 V supply (26.4 mW), demonstrates modulation and receiver frame acquisition at a maximum raw input rate of 90 Mbps, corresponding to a 180 Mbps Manchester-coded line rate, and tunes from 3.266 to 3.445 GHz. End-to-end bit error rate (BER) was measured at raw rates of 15 and 31.2 Mbps, corresponding to encoded rates of 30 and 62.4 Mbps; the latter matches the in vivo data stream. The transmitter was integrated with a 128-channel recording chip and evaluated in freely moving adult C57 mice. Wireless hippocampal spike and local field potential (LFP) recordings, wired-system comparison, and event-locked LFP analysis support its feasibility for untethered neural recording.

Keywords: wireless neural recording; neural interface; OOK transmitter; PLL-less transmitter; low-power telemetry; in vivo neural recording; freely moving mice; CMOS transmitter

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MDPI and ACS Style

Shu, G.; Zhang, F.; Yang, C.; Jia, H.; Wang, X.; Yin, M. A Low-Power PLL-Less Wideband OOK Wireless Neural-Signal Transmitter for Miniaturized Neural Interfaces with In Vivo Validation in Freely Moving Mice. Biosensors 2026, 16, 405. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16080405

AMA Style

Shu G, Zhang F, Yang C, Jia H, Wang X, Yin M. A Low-Power PLL-Less Wideband OOK Wireless Neural-Signal Transmitter for Miniaturized Neural Interfaces with In Vivo Validation in Freely Moving Mice. Biosensors. 2026; 16(8):405. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16080405

Chicago/Turabian Style

Shu, Guijun, Fangning Zhang, Chuang Yang, Hongyu Jia, Xiao Wang, and Ming Yin. 2026. "A Low-Power PLL-Less Wideband OOK Wireless Neural-Signal Transmitter for Miniaturized Neural Interfaces with In Vivo Validation in Freely Moving Mice" Biosensors 16, no. 8: 405. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16080405

APA Style

Shu, G., Zhang, F., Yang, C., Jia, H., Wang, X., & Yin, M. (2026). A Low-Power PLL-Less Wideband OOK Wireless Neural-Signal Transmitter for Miniaturized Neural Interfaces with In Vivo Validation in Freely Moving Mice. Biosensors, 16(8), 405. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios16080405

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A Low-Power PLL-Less Wideband OOK Wireless Neural-Signal Transmitter for Miniaturized Neural Interfaces with In Vivo Validation in Freely Moving Mice

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