B-CRATOS: The next generation in-body tetherless network

The nervous system is the human body’s communication network: a vast array of connections, relays, and nodes throughout the body that continuously receive, transmit, and process information. It carries our thoughts, regulates our bodies’ functions, and enables us to move, speak, and feel: to experience and interact with the world around us.

Though tireless and powerful, the nervous system is also vulnerable.  When it is damaged or becomes dysfunctional through injury or illness, what was once effortless and uncomplicated becomes a lifetime challenge.  An everyday activity as mundane as traveling to the store, catching up with a friend, or even meeting a basic bodily need becomes a frustrating, sometimes seemingly insurmountable endeavour.

Addressing the pressing need for innovative solutions, the B-CRATOS Consortium is developing and integrating cutting-edge technologies into a revolutionary neural bypass bridge platform for rapid in-body communications. Just as modern 5G telecommunication networks are connecting homes, mobile devices, machines, and everyday objects with high bandwidth and low latency across the outside world, the B-CRATOS platform is designed to accomplish the same within our bodies, by linking the brain, body, and medical devices in a high-speed network.

The B-CRATOS core technologies wirelessly flow information within the body’s tissues, like a ‘directed’ 5G network, to achieve point-to-point intra-body communication. Where a 5G network allows a smartphone in South America to control a dishwashing machine in Europe and use a cloud-based speech translation system hosted in Asia, the B-CRATOS platform is designed to enable the brain to control movement of a prosthetic limb, detect real-time tactile information from artificial sensors, and modulate organ activity. And by restoring connections within the body, B-CRATOS will enable individuals to reconnect with the world around them.

The future B-CRATOS Brain-Computer Interface system is untethered using high-speed communication.  B-CRATOS is empowering independence.

The B-CRATOS project is funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 965044.  To learn more, please visit https://b-cratos.eu.