SDR-based tracking system for biodegradable implant sensor

Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on society's priorities towards the end of 2019. In the short term, people had to relinquish their regular social activities and adopt new habits to safeguard their health. Consequently, personal health emerged as the foremost concern in daily life, surpassing all others. This heightened awareness of personal health has led to an increased demand for novel medical systems, irrespective of whether they are specifically related to the Coronavirus or not. Even prior to the recent pandemic, advancements in nano and RF technologies have already hinted at the potential of health applications based on wireless communication. RF medical imaging and sensing has emerged as a promising adjunct to existing diagnostic tools in the field of medical applications, primarily due to its cost-effectiveness, portability, and non-ionizing radiation properties. Software Defined Radios (SDR) are an exceptionally well-suited option for medical applications due to their remarkable flexibility, enhanced RF specifications, and compact hardware dimensions. This thesis introduces a novel low-cost and wearable system as a viable substitute for the Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), a pivotal measurement technology in the RF industry. While several studies have explored the use of SDR as a substitute for VNAs, it is noteworthy that this research represents the pioneering application of an SDR-based system in conjunction with genetically modified bacteria for sensing biological processes and specific chemical outputs generated by molecular communications. The system design and implementation involve the utilization of GNU Radio and Python for Adalm-Pluto SDR development, MATLAB for advantaged signal processing tasks, and the establishment of a measurement setup using biological phantoms. The comparison of SDR results with those from a VNA provides valuable insights into the system's effectiveness.