Development of a Tracking Algorithm for an In-Vivo RF Capsule Prototype

This paper presents the design of a tracking algorithm for an in-vivo capsule swallowed by patients. Such devices play a very important role in the diagnosis and treatment of internal disorders, for example, in the digestive tract. Tracking the location of the capsule as it travels down the digestive tract is critical to ensure its position near the affected area. Various sensing mechanisms that can be applied for tracking the capsule include the use of radio frequency and magnetic signals. The work reported in this paper mainly focuses on the development of an intelligent tracking algorithm that could potentially be coupled with a variety of sensing technologies. In this paper we use RF-based capsule and sensor prototypes for developing and testing the tracking algorithm. Encouraging practical results have been obtained which demonstrate the validity of the tracking algorithm and the underlying look-up table based methodology