The ultimate implant

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I’m going to be splitting this post into 2 categories. One for my question, and a second for a proposed solution (so you guys can tell me how far off base I am). Here we go.

Part one, the question. Why is it that we don’t have a chip that can do everything? Like, it’s electronics. And humans are pretty great at making these things do what we want. Why have to choose between LF, HF, Mifare, x, y, and z? What’s stopping us from building the end all be all?

Part two, my idea. I get that it’s alot of physical restrictions. But I’ve seen antennas that can do a very wide range of frequencies. Why not we make a chip that isn’t just a passive module, but a computer on its own? That way, if there is some new fancy way to authenticate, it won’t check the I’d of the chip, the program would just pretend? If anyone is familiar with network penetration, it would be like forcing associations with phones. Just have the program give it whatever it wants to hear per say.

Also, I know there are issues like having to power a machine like this, but let’s ignore that for now.

Thanks!!

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Related question: why is it we have Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android and they’re all incompatible with one another? Well, just because it’s a free country and you’re allowed to put out competing products.

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They already exist, but probably not like you imagine them. Check out Javacard :slight_smile:

We are pretty good at it, and if something doesn’t exist, there is often a good reason for it.
I imagine @Satur9 will enlighten you.

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Size, and the fact that readers don’t impliment anti-collision so there would be tons of crosstalk

Antennas for transmission of electric signals are different from RFID antennas.

RFID antennas are inductors that receive power from a reader device (no battery) and modulate that field to communicate with the reader. The “tuning” of RFID antennas are not variable because they are tied to the physical dimensions of the coil.

Electrical antennas have a power source and measure tiny “vibrations” from the signals hitting them, which are then interpreted by receiver circuits that can be tuned for a variety of frequencies.

Because we have a limited power budget (no battery) and ASICs are extremely expensive to produce and end up being very bulky.

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@Satur9’s answer was already spot on, so just to add a bit more detail…

In this case, because both have distinct use-cases.
In a nutshelll:

  • LF can have better range and is less vulnerable to radio interference, but achieves that at the compromise of data transfer speed.
  • HF transfers data faster but requires you to be much closer to the reader.

Similarly, there is also the matter of cost.

Imagine you only need an implant to open your doors. you can get one for 20 bucks.

Now if an ultimate implant existed, could cost at least 500 bucks… (ficticious number)

Technically, that is the core question.

If we had a computer behind an RFID device, then that computer could operate ob both frequencies by having multiple antennas, and could even store/emulate multiple IDs for the same frequency…

It could in fact answer all your questions and do all which you want, and more!!!

Although…

Then instead of an implant with only 3x5x0.2 mm, we are now looking at implanting a device roughly 40x80x35 mm instead!
(and this larger size is already much smaller than the currently closest thing recorded I could think of)

Then there comes the power source issue!!

While a microchip is passive and receives it’s power through the magnetic pairing, a computing device would require it’s own power source: some sort of battery.

Battery technology is still our bottleneck.

Even thinking about wireless recharging batteries, the ones we could use would either hold charge for only a couple of minutes, or decay over time and require replacing (which would require surgery), or they are prone to spontaneous combustion or exploding.

In the best cases, the type of batteries you’ll want need to vent off some gas. And the polymer/resin you would need to encase the device to make it biocompatible for a safe implant would prevent the battery from venting off, which would then build pressure until it explodes.

:exploding_head:

First we’ll see electric cars which can travel cross-country a couple of times before running out of battery.

Then, if we’re lucky, such technology can be miniaturised and is bio-safe. Then we might dream higher. :wink:

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This reminds me of that other thread about “the ultimate implant”.

. hahah omg … I’m tired.

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We all the world don’t just agree in one easy to learn language so we all can understand each other easier?

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