A

TECHNICAL SEMINAR REPORT

ON

MICROELECTRONIC PILLS
Submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
By
P.MADHU

(08601A0493)

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

S.S.J ENGINEERING COLLEGE

(Affiliated to J.N.T.U Hyderabad)
2012

S.S.J ENGINEERING COLLEGE

Sponsored by SRIDEVI EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY
(Approved by A.I.C.T.E, Affiliated to J.N.T.U, Hyderabad)
Hyderabad-500075,A.P.

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Seminar report entitled MICROELECTRONIC

PILLS is being submitted by P.MADHU (08601A0493), in partial fulfillment for the
award of the Degree of Bachelors of Technology in Electronics and Communication
Engineering to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University is a record of bonafied
work carried out by them. The results embodied in this project report have not been
submitted to any other university or instate for the award of any Degree or Diploma.

Head of the Department

External Examiner

ABSTRACT

Electronic pills, smart capsules or miniaturized microsystems swallowed by

human beings or animals for various biomedical and diagnostic applications are growing
rapidly in the last years.
This paper searched out the important existing electronic pills in the market and
prototypes in research centers. Further objective of this research is to develop a
technology platform with enhanced feature to cover the drawback of most capsules. The
designed telemetry unit is a synchronous bidirectional communication block using
continuous phase DQPSK of 115 kHz low carrier frequency for inductive data
transmission suited for human body energy transfer. The communication system can
assist the electronic pill to trigger an actuator for drug delivery, to record temperature, or
to measure pH of the body.

It consists additionally to a 32bit processor, memory, external peripheries, and

detection facility. The complete system is designed to fit small-size mass medical
application with low power consumption, size of 7x25mm. The system
is designed, simulated and emulated on FPGA.
Previously, Lab-on-a-Chip technologies have exploited many aspects of
microsystems technology, including sensor miniaturisation and microfluidics, in order to
deliver a variety of applications, particularly those associated with DNA analysis,
proteomics and diagnostics. Despite the numerous analytical advantages that are
delivered as a consequence of device miniaturisation, the vast majority of all devices that
have been proposed either as commercial instruments or as research projects, have
required to be based on a laboratory bench. In contrast, Lab-on-a-Pill technology now has
the proven ability to deliver both remote and-or distributed analysis, resulting in a wide
range of potential applications, including those associated with biomedical analysis in the
gastro-intestinal tract, process control in industry and the functional foods industry.
In electronics, microsystem fabrication, and wireless communications, and a
greater understanding of human physiology. Electronic microsystems can now be
ingested to explore
the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and can transmit the acquired information to a base station.

INDEX
S.no

Page. No

1.

INTRODUCTION

2.

ELECTRONIC CAPSULES

Capsules as Actuators

2.1.1 Capsule basics

Capsules as Sensors

Experiments

Technical Challenges

Early Capsules

10

3.

e-pille SYSTEM DESIGN

12

SIRIUS Processor

12

Communication Block

14

Multisensors

15

Drug Delivery

16

4.

HARDWARE VERIFICATION AND LAYOUT

17

5.

CURRENT ACTIVITY AT RESEARCH CENTRES

20

6.

FUTURE SCOPE

23

7.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

24

8.

CONCLUSION

25

9.

REFERENCES

26

1.INTRODUCTION

Evolution of technology in recent years opened the door for advanced

microelectronic systems to be used in medical treatments and diagnostic analysis. Such
systems known as smart pills, electronic digestible capsules and intelligent microsystems
are rising quickly in this field, they enhance the treatment of several diseases (cancer,
diabetes, ) and carry out biomedical analysis in GI tract (temperature, pH, motility, ),
GI diseases affect 60-70 million people annually while diagnosis and treatment exceed
10 Billion Euro per year.
Back to four decades, Mackay invented the first radio telemetry capsule with one
transistor in 1957 and the first successful pH sensor capsule was achieved in 1972, since
then research and developments were carried out enhancing and expanding in this field.
Lab-on-a-Pill: The International Context of the Work: The invention of the transistor
enabled the implementation of the first radiotelemetry ingestible capsules, which utilised
simple circuits for in vivo telemetric studies of the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract [1]. These
units could only transmit from a single sensor channel, and were difficult to assemble due
to the use of discrete components [2]. The measurement parameters consisted of either
temperature, pH or pressure. These first attempts of conducting real time non-invasive
physiological measurements (understandably, given the extent of technology in 1957)
suffered from poor reliability, low sensitivity and short lifetimes of the devices.

Despite this, the first successful pH gut profiles were achieved in 1972 [3], with
subsequent improvements in sensitivity and lifetime [4, 5]. Single channel radiotelemetry
capsules have since found limited applications for the detection of disease and
abnormalities in the GI tract [6-8] where restricted access prevents the use of traditional
5

endoscopy [9]. Most radiotelemetry capsules utilize laboratory type sensors such as glass
pH electrodes, resistance thermometers [10] or moving inductive coils as pressure
transducers [11]. However, the relatively large size of these sensors limits the functional
complexity of the pill for a given size of capsule.

The concept of remote and distributed miniaturised sensing has been most
dramatically exemplified by the camera-on-a-pill technology, associated with video
endoscopy within the gastro-instestinal tract [9]. The important contrast between this
seminal work in video imaging (e.g. that produced by IMC, Korea and Given Imaging),
and of our own work is that whilst the camera-on-a-pill seeks to create a visual image of
the remote area being sensed, we wish to develop a remote chemical image of that site.

2. ELECTRONIC CAPSULES

Recent years, complicated electronic capsules with state-of-the-art technology

termed by Lab-on-chip, pharmacy-on-chip, Biochips and BioMEMS are used to describe
the recent modern capsules that perform sophisticated biomedical treatment and analysis,
they can be categorized according to their function into two groups:
1. Actuators as drug delivery systems
2. Sensors as pH, temperature, image,
Table 1 listed the capsules with their specification.

2.1. Capsules as Actuators

Drug delivery system is an issue of optimization for many interests, immediate
release drug will be absorbed in the upper part of the small intestine after the stomach,
extended release drug is desired to be absorbed in the lower level of the intestine.
Achievement of the second by normal coating tablets is difficult due to the
complexity of the GI tract of human being, intubation is an alternative solution, but it is
uncomfortable for patients.
Alternative solution will be of more interest, and the idea of developing
swallowed capsules devices was demonstrated, over two decades engineers are trying to
develop different capsules with the capability to control the time and the location of the
drug release.
The earlier capsules in this domain were HF, InteliSite, and Telemetric Capsules.
They are triggered by a radio frequency (RF) pulse from a generator outside the body, the
heat generated in the circuit will melt a thread releasing a needle that pierces the
container and spells out the drug. State-of-the-art in this domain are the Enterion
capsule and ChipRx.
The Enterion capsule uses a piston sealed inside it, while a trigger signal is
received the piston will be released and the drug container will be ejected out after the
filament is burnt. The above mentioned systems are pulsed type drug release, the drug is
released at once in one location.

A continues drug release is described by ChipRx, using MEMS technology

several holes are circulated around the container providing continues mode release
system, these holes are regulated by biological stimulis where a biosensor will be used to
regulate the amount of drug needed by the patient (pharmacy-on-chip).

Previous determination of the location before drug release is an important issue.

Scintigraphy, X-Ray and radioactive compounds are used to locate the position
of the capsule. Such location schemes arent practical. The patient must undergo several
gamma scans to identify the location. Telemetric capsule uses a cogwheel means for
localization. Enhancement in localization is of more interest and more work can be done
in this domain to achieve a practical solution for position determination.

2.1.1Capsule basics

In general, a swallowable capsule is a selfcontained microsystem that performs a

sensing or actuating function in the body. Usually the system consists of the core
components in figure 2 encapsulated in a biocompatible material.
At one end of the chain are the sensors (or alternatively, actuators) that interface
with the body. Sensors convert physical properties such as light, pressure, or temperature
into electrical signals, while actuators perform the opposite function.

The signal-conditioning block provides analog processing such as amplification

and filtering to clean the detected signal. The systems brain, the CPU, digitizes the
signal and might perform additional processing. The communication block can then
transmit the signal to a receiver module outside the body. The communication medium
can be RF, a magnetic field (inductive coupling), or ultrasound. Finally the power supply,
based on either batteries or inductive coupling, provides energy for the system.

Table:2.1 List of Capsules with their Specifications

2.2. Capsules as Sensors

Monitoring the variation of temperature, pH, motility and other functions are
getting easier and comfortable for patients. The need to collect biomedical information
within a specific location is of high interest, most of the existing sensor capsules dont

provide location determination. Earlier products in this field are the Radio Pill, BRAVO,
Heidelberg and Temperature capsules. Almost all of them use internal battery for power
consumption. New capsules in this field are IDEAS, SmartPill and Tohoku capsules.
IDEAS and SmartPill provide multi-sensors microsystem for real time analysis.
Retrieving video images from within the GI tract with wireless endoscopy was a
breakthrough in year 2000, M2A from Given Imaging was the 1st to develop such a
system, later RF System Lab from Japan produced the Norika capsule which is the-stateof-the-art in this domain. Another new system from IMS Stuttgart is the IVP
(Intracorporeal Videoprobe). M2A/PillCam are powered by battery while Norika and IVP
by external magnet field. A trade off must be taken between using battery inside the body
with limited power supply and exposing the body with RF signal to power up the camera
and LEDs

2.3 Experiment
The electronic pill comprise a biocompatible capsule, which consists of a
chemicallyresistant polyether-terketone (PEEK) coating, the four microfabricated
sensors, the ASIC control chip and a discrete component radio transmitter
The unit is powered by two SR44 Ag2O batteries (3.1 V), which provides an
operating time of 35 hours at the rated power consumption of 15 mW.The sensors were
fabricated on two separate 5x5 mm
Silicon chips located at thefront end of the capsule. The temperature sensor is
embedded in the substrate, whereas the conductivity sensor is directly exposed to the
surroundings. The pH and oxygensensors were enclosed in two separate 8 nL electrolyte
chambers containing a 0.1MKOH solution retained in a 0.2 % calcium alginate gel. The
electrolyte maintains astable potential of the integrated Ag/AgCl reference electrodes
used by the two sensors.The oxygen and pH sensor are covered by a 12 m thick film of
teflon and nafionrespectively, and protected by a 15 m thick dialysis membrane of
polycarbonate.
The signals were conditioned by the ASIC and then transmitted to a local
receiver(base station) at 40.01 MHz prior to data acquisition on a PC. The applied
10

simplex communication link, based on a direct sequence spread spectrum communication

system, can handle data from several pills at the same time.

2.4 Technical challenges

In addition to the standard constraints in electronic design, a number of main
challenges arise for systems that operate inside the human body. The foremost challenge
is miniaturization to obtain an ingestible device. The availability of small-scale devices
can place severe constraints on a design, and the interconnection between them must be
optimized. Also the alternative, full integration on silicon, can be a long and expensive
process. The size constraints lead to another challenge, noise. The coexistence of digital
integrated circuits, switching converters for the power supply, and communication
circuits in close vicinity of the analog signal conditioning could result in a high level of
noise affecting the input signal. Therefore, capsule designers must take great care when
selecting and placing components, to optimize the isolation of the front end.
The next vital challenge is to reduce power consumption. In battery-powered
devices, the battery itself is likely the largest system component. Also, inductive links can
handle only low levels of energy. Therefore, designers must minimize both supply
voltage and current consumption while using high-efficiency topologies to achieve the
required system performance. Another challenge involves communication. In particular,
the generated wireless signal must not interfere with standard hospital equipment but still
be sufficiently robust to overcome external interferences. A dedicated RF communication
standard is the Medical Implant Communication Service, operating in the 402405 MHz
range, although other Industrial Scientific and Medical bands such as 433.92 MHz are
acceptable. The transmit power must be low enough to minimize interference
with users of the same band while being strong enough to ensure a reliable link with the
receiver module.
Lower frequencies are used for ultrasound (100 kHz to 5 MHz) and inductive
coupling (125 kHz to 20 MHz). The human body is no place for operational obscurity, so
the control software must enforce specific rules to ensure that all devices operate as
expected. For that reason, key programs must be developed in a low-level (often

11

assembly) language. The last challenge concerns encapsulating the circuitry in

appropriate biocompatible materials to protect the patient from potentially harmful
substances and to protect the device from the GIs hostile environment. The encapsulation
of contactless sensors (image, temperature, and so on) is relatively simple compared to
the packaging of chemical sensors that need direct access to the GI fluids.

2.5 Early capsules

The swallowable-capsule concept first appeared in 1957 in R. Stuart Mackay and
Bertil Jacobsons groundbreaking paper on RF transmission of temperature and pressure
from within the human body.1
Because transistors were rare and miniature batteries were unavailable, most of
the early concepts used inductive links. In the early 1960s, Carlos A. Abella2 and JeanPierre Perrenoud3 each received a patent for systems based exclusively on mechanical
devices (capillary structures) to extract or deposit fluids in the GI tract.
These systems achieved control through strong external electromagnetic fields.
Researchers also worked on optimizing the coil geometry to improve energy and data
transfer.4 In 1972, Matsushita further developed and patented Mackay and Jacobsons
early concept to implement simple sensing capsules for pH, temperature, and pressure.5
These concepts provided a design platform for many of the subsequent commercial
capsules.

12

Fig.2.5.1 The block diagram of swalloable capsule

Fig.2.5.2:An ingested capsule transmits data wirelessly to an external base station.

13

3. ePille SYSTEM DESIGN

Fig.3.1

ePille concept for drug delivery Figure 1 shows the concept of the

electronic pill
(ePille). It is designed to establish bi-directional communication channel from-to
the body, trigger an actuator for drug delivery and record temperature or pH value
via temp sensor or chemical sensor.
A further feature is an attempt for localization using near field magnetic induction
method within 20 cm circular range and having a resolution of 1 cm.

3.1. SIRIUS Processor

14

The SIRIUS core (acronym for Small Imprint RISC for Ubiquitous Systems)
stands in performance somewhere between the very successful architectures of the
ATMEL AVR (ATmega 8bit) , the TI MSP 430, the PicoBlaze - and well below the ARM
7/9 class of 32bit machines, the LEON (SPARC), Motorola 68xxx and other 32bit
architectures (NIOS II, MicroBlaze).
Figure 2 shows the block diagram of the core. The processor has the following
specification:
1. Load-Store architecture with 16bit external data bus.

Fig.3.1.1 Block diagram of SIRIUS core

15

2. RISC architecture with 3 stage pipeline and 1 Instruction/clock cycle and an

average of 0.8 MIPS/MHz performance.- 16bit/32bit internal bus structure with
32bit ALU and 16x16 MPY,
3. Orthogonal register set of 16 registers, 12 x16bit, 4 x 32bit, the 16bit universal
registers may be combined to double registers and handled as 6 x32bit registers.
4. Instruction pointer 32bit and stack pointer 32bit are part of the register set.
5. Stack oriented architecture with unlimited nesting levels.
6. Pointers 16 bit as well as 32bit supported.
7. Multiplex bus system, separated 8bit IO bus and fast memory bus, all IO is
connected via a separate 8bit bus with own address space
8. Address space 64k or 4G depending on pointer addressing,
9. Vectored hardware interrupt and software interrupt (exception)
10. Compact 16 bit instruction format with only three modes
11. Instruction set architecture with 56 instructions optimized for compact CCompilation
12. Netlist version made from gate primitives, able to be mapped on every existing
technology without using macros.
13. Performance about 100 MIPS in 0.35m CMOS and 50 MIPS in actual FPGAtechnologies

16

14. Fully static, extreme low power design, all registers made from flip-flops.
15. Comes with Software IDE, C-Compiler and Simulator and basic BIOS.

3.2. Communication Block

The communication block consists of an asynchronous DQPSK with 115 KHz
carrier frequency, including a digital PLL at the receiver side. The data rate is 9600 Baud.
The modulation technique is a continuous phase soft shift keying using Gaussian
filter for smooth phase transition from one state to the other.
The data frame package carries up to 255 bytes of data information with preamble
and 16 bit CRC sum check. The system includes 4B/5B coding for 1 and 2 bit error
detection as well burst error for frames less than 16 bits.
The modulator process the serial data by converting into two parallel bit for
quadrature form. A differential encoding is set to eliminate the difference of phase
reference between the transmitter and receiver side. A soft shift keying is provided by
Gaussian filtering for smooth phase transition. This signal is supplied to a numerically
controlled oscillator (NCO) to generate a frequency between 107-123kHz depending on
the phase shift.
The demodulator process contains the reverse steps of the modulator. It consists
of Schmitt-trigger for digitizing the received analog signal, a digital PLL to lock the
received signal, a decision circuit to estimate the symbol value, a decoder and parallelserial converter to recover the original data.

17

Fig.3.2.1: PillCam: (a) the capsules relative size, and PillCam-produced images of
(b) a healthy small intestine and (c) an esophagus. (images courtesy of Given
Imaging)
Given Imaging has developed a similar endoscopy capsule, initially called the
M2A.11 Competition is intense between Olympus and Given Imaging, evident in
ongoing lengthy and expensive patent litigation regarding the ownership of the
endoscope pill concept and its developments. Given Imaging has developed two distinct
capsules: PillCam ESO12 for the esophagus and PillCam SB for the small bowel.

18

Fig.3.2.2: The SmartPill GI Monitoring System includes the SmartPill pH.p, a

receiver, a docking station, and a PC user interface. (image courtesy of SmartPill
Corp.)

3.3 Multisensor
The SmartPill Corporation has integrated temperature, pressure, and pH sensors
into a single capsule, the Smart- Pill pH.p (www.smartpillcorp.com/ index.cfm?
pagepath=home/products/ the_smartpill_pHp_capsule&id=395). The company promotes
the device as a complement to endoscopy with the potential to replace gastric-emptying
scintigraphy. The SmartPill GI Monitoring System (see figure 4) includes the capsule, a
wireless data receiver, a receiver docking station, and MotiliGI software. A powerful
magnet activates an internal latching switch that provides a connection between the
electronics and the battery. Once the capsule is activated, it begins working and transmits
data to the mobile-phone-sized receiver (worn on the patients belt).
The receiver, in turn, transfers the data wirelessly to a PC in real time. The
SmartPill, which has a 13-mm diameter and is 26 mm long, measures temperature to an
accuracy of 0.5C, pressure resolution to 3.6 mm HG, and pH to 0.28. It uses the
sensor data in addition to real and elapsed time measurements to provide gastricemptying
time, combined small and
large intestine transit time, contraction patterns, and a motility index.

19

Fig.3.1.1: The Enterion drug delivery Piston capsule. (image courtesy of

Pharmaceutical Profiles)

3.4 Drug delivery

Another interesting area of swallowable- capsule technology is in-vivo drug
delivery or, conversely, sample extraction. Pharmaceutical Profiles is researching drug
absorption using
The capsule (see figure 5) is 32 mm long and 11 mm in diameter. It can hold up to
1 ml of liquid or powder, which it can expel at a target site in the body. The capsule
contains a small amount of gamma-emitting tracer, allowing precise tracking in real time
using an external gamma camera. When the capsule reaches the target area, an external
electromagnetic field actuates the capsules piston, ejecting the payload

20

4. HARDWARE VERIFICATION AND LAYOUT

The SIRIUS processor and the communication block have been emulated on
FPGA Cyclone II, an emulation test board was designed to test the systems functionality
as shown in figure 3.

Fig.4.1 Emulation of the digital part on Cyclone II

A single coil was used for transmission and receiving mode. A serial combination
of the coil, capacitor, and resistor were used for transmission mode while a parallel
combination of the coil, capacitor, and resistor were used for receiving mode. The Q
factor is seven and the bandwidth is 16 kHz with center frequency of 115 kHz.

21

Fig.4.2First prototype layout of the digital part in 0.35 m AMIS technology, size of
11mm

A first routing of the digital circuit was done. A processor, SRAM, external
periphery, and communication block was routed using 0.35m AMIS technology. The
first routings showed an area of 11mm as seen in figure 4.

22

Table.4.1 Results of Synthesizing for 0.35 ASIC Library and for ALTERA Cyclone II

23

5.CURRENT ACTIVITY AT THE RESEARCH CENTRES:

Our current research on sensor integration and onboard data processing has
focused on the development of microsystems capable of performing simultaneous
multiparameter physiological analysis both in vivo and in vitro. The technology has a
range of applications in the detection of disease and abnormalities in medical research.
Our overall aim has been to deliver enhanced sensor functionality, reduced size and low
power consumption, through system level integration on a common integrated circuit
platform comprising sensors, analogue and digital signal processing, and signal
transmission.
Therefore created a platform which comprises a novel analytical microsystem
incorporating a four channel microsensor array for real time determination of
temperature, pH, conductivity and oxygen (work pioneered by Professor Jon Cooper and
Dr Erik Johanessen). The sensors have been fabricated using standard photolithographic
pattern integration, and are controlled using a custom made application specific
integrated circuit (ASIC), designed in Glasgow (by Dr Dave Cumming and Dr Wang Li)
and fabricated by Europractice. The ASIC samples the data with 10 bit resolution prior to
communication off chip as a single interleaved data stream. An integrated radio
transmitter sends the signal to a local receiver (base station), prior to data acquisition on a
computer. A receiver allows remote control of the Labon- a-Pills function, switching
sensors and-or power on and off, on demand.

24

25

Fig. 5.1: (Left) showing the ISFET, temperature and conductivity sensor (Chip 1,
a,c) and the electrochemical oxygen sensor (Chip 2, b, d). Figures e and f show detail
of the pH and oxygen sensor, respectively; (Middle) Schematic (top) and photo
(below) of the Glasgow IDEAS capsule.
Although the capsule is currently too large to swallow, the hybrid approach
towards its construction provides considerable experimental flexibility. It is estimated
that the volume of the pill could be readily reduced by ca. 40% through careful layout of
the packaging and surface mount; (Right) a recoding of pH and temperature using
wireless transmission of data from a model gut system, showing the importance of
temperature sensing.

26

As expected the response of the pH sensor has a Nernstian dependence on

temperature (although the reverse is not true, and the temperature sensor does not have a
pH dependence). The Figure also shows that there is no signal cross-talk across the
capsule, between sensors, despite the fact that they are located proximal to each other on
the chip (and share the same microsystem for signal collection and transmission).
The sensors comprise a silicon diode to measure the body core temperature,
whilst also compensating for temperature induced signal changes in the other sensors; an
ion selective field effect transistor, ISFET to measure pH; a pair of direct contact gold
electrodes to measure conductivity; and a three-electrode electrochemical cell, to detect
the level of dissolved oxygen in solution. All of these measurements will, in the future, be
used to perform in vivo physiological analysis of the GI-tract. These four sensors (pH, s,
T, pO2) not only provide useful information for applications in industry and biomedicine
per se, but also are a platform that will enable greater sensor functionality to be created
(e.g. the electrochemical oxygen sensor could be readily modified in order to develop a
sensor interface for the implementation of immunoassay technology).
We have now presented real time wireless data transmission from a model in vitro
experimental setup, for the first time, and are currently working with the Veterinary
School at the University of Glasgow on performing multi-channel in vivo experiments.
Extensive literature searching has revealed that we are the only group world-wide
working at this state of the art in multi-channel remote wireless sensing (e.g. there is
already a class of oesophageal pH sensors that are available in clinical practice). There
has also recently been serious interest from two multinational electronics companies in
obtaining IP generated through this work.

27

Table.5.1 General manufacturer details

28

6. FUTURE SCOPE
1. It cannot perform ultrasound & impedance tomography so strides are made to
implement them
2. Detection of radiation abnormalities is an exciting field of interest
3. Radiation treatment associated with cancer & chronic inflammation are being
extensively studied for the betterment of the medical facilities being provided.
4. Micro Electronic Pills are expensive so effort being maid to reduce the cost
5. Still its size is not digestible to small babies so work on further miniaturization is
needed to be sorted
6. Further research are being carried out to remove its draw backs.

29

7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1. The signal resolution was 0.4C, 0.6 pH units, 0.02 mS cm-1and 0.1 mg O2 ml-1
overthe specified dynamic ranges .
2. Real time in situ tests

have demonstrateda temperature dependency of the pH

sensor, thus emphasising the additional importanceof the temperature sensor to

correlate for signal changes from the neighbouring sensors.
3. The generic nature makes the pill adaptable for use in corrosive environments
relatedto environmental and industrial applications, such as the evaluation of
water quality,pollution detection, fermentation process control and the inspection
of pipelines.
4. The unit measures 16 x 55 mm and weights 13.5 g

8. CONCLUSION

30

1. A complete bidirectional system was designed, simulated, and emulated on

FPGA. A first routing prototype for the digital part was done using 0.35m AMIS
technology.
2. A final layout with complete peripheries and analog components is still under
progress.
3. The system contains wake up manager unit for reduction of power consumption.
An external signal will be sent either to wake up the system or shift it to sleep
mode.
4. The system was able to demodulate receiving signal, CRC check sum and save
the data in the memory.
5. A transparent mode to resend the data was achieved.
6. The system could trigger an actuator via transmitted command.
7. The electronic pill will be further miniaturized for human ingestion by the
incorporation of the transmitter on silicon and a reduction in power consumption
by the implementation of a standby modus and serial bit stream data compression.
8. The integration of radiation sensors and the application of indirect imaging
technologies such as ultrasound and impedance tomography will improve the
detection of tissue abnormalities and radiology treatment associated with cancer
and chronic inflammation.

9. REFERENCES
31

WEBSITES:
1. www.smartpilldiagnostics.com
2. www.chiprx.com
3.http://www.smartpilldiagnostics.com/products.php
4. www.rfnorika.com
5. http://ivp.ims-chips.de
6. Opencores: http://www.opencores.org/
7. ARM Processors: http://www.arm.com/
8. http://www.arc.com/configurablecores/
9. ACTEL Igloo FPGA:www.actel.com/products/igloo

BOOKS AND RESEARCH PAPERS:

1. G. Iddan, Wireless Capsule Endoscopy, Nature,vol 405, 2000.
2. Mackay, Endoradiosonde Nature, vol. 179, 1957.
3. Meldrom, pH profile pf gut as measured by radio telemetry capsule Br. Med. Vol. 2,
pp. 104, 1972.
4. Wilding, Hirst, Development of a new engineering-based capsule for human drug
absorptions studies PSTT vol 3, 2000.
5. Houzego, Patent WO 01/45552 A1, 2001.
7. Steinberg, Heidelberg Capsule invitro, evaluation of a new instrument for measuring
intragastric pH, J.Pharm, vol 54,1965.
8. Johannessen, Implementation of Multichannel Sensors for Remote Biomedical
9.Measurements in a Microsystems Format, Biomedical Engineering, Vol 51, No.3,
March 2005.
10. G. Iddan, Wireless Capsule Endoscopy, Nature,vol 405, 2000.
17. N. Fawaz, D. Jansen, M. Mogel, Entwicklung eines synchronen Transceivers mit
DQPSK
Modulation und Soft Shift Keying fr eine inductive bertragung mit Erprobung in
einem FPGA, MPCWorkshop, Germany, 2006.

32

18. N. Fawaz, Development of CP-DQPSK Modulator and Demodulator using VHDL for
inductive data transmission, Master thesis FH-Offenburg, Germany, 2002.
19. N. Fawaz, D. Jansen, DQPSK Modulator for Inductive Data Transmission, MPCWorkshop,
Germany, 2002.
20. Dirk Jansen et. alt.: Electronic Design Automation Handbook, Verlag Kluwer, NL,
2003.
21. C. Eichner, FHOP-Evalboard Technischer Bericht, FH-Offenburg, Germany, 2002.
22. D. Jansen, F. Baier, Induktive bidirektionale Schnittstelle hnlich ISO/IEC 14443-A,
MPCWorkshop, Germany, 2002.
23. D. Jansen, Systematic Design of a Small Processor Core with C-Capability for SOC
Designs; Presentation on the colloquium of the CECS, University of California, USA,
2005.

33