Patent ID: 8159348

Claim:
A system comprising: a transmit antenna element for propagating an energizing signal onto a communication medium; a receive antenna element for recovering an implanted sensor response signal from the communication medium, the implanted sensor response signal being responsive to the energizing signal; and an antenna box in electrical communication with the transmit antenna element and with the receive antenna element, the antenna box comprising: a power amplifier for amplifying the energizing signal received from an antenna cable to a second power level from a first power level and for providing the energizing signal at the second power level to the transmit antenna element; and timing regeneration circuitry for outputting control signals to change the antenna box to a receive mode upon detecting an end to the energizing signal and to change the antenna box to a transmit mode upon identifying an end to the implanted sensor response signal by identifying an end to a response time window of a pre-set amount of time, wherein the antenna box is capable of receiving the energizing signal from the antenna cable in the transmit mode and providing the implanted sensor response signal to the antenna cable in the receive mode.