A Fully Implantable Wireless Stimulation System for Pigeon Navigation

Abstract

Navigation of freely moving animals has been studied for potential application to emergency situations and hazardous environments. A fully implantable stimulation system for remote animal navigation was proposed and applied to living pigeons. The animal navigation system, consisting of an external controller and a neural stimulator, was designed based on the anatomy of the pigeons. Depth electrodes were fabricated based on the anatomy of target pigeon brain regions. The fabricated neural stimulators received data wirelessly from the external controller and generated biphasic current pulses with preset parameters of amplitude, duration, and rate. The average impedance of the fabricated electrodes was 12.0 angle -13.05 degrees k Omega at 1 kHz. The neural stimulator was implanted on the dorsal side, and the depth electrodes were inserted into the formatio reticularis medialis mesencephali (FRM). When successive current pulses with an amplitude of 400 mu A, a rate of 58 Hz, and a duration of 80 mu s were applied to the target regions at 0.85 s intervals, turning/circling behaviors were induced for 6.2 s. The feasibility of the proposed wireless stimulation system was demonstrated in vivo.