Open Access

Das Institut für Angewandte Forschung (IAF) der Hochschule Offenburg arbeitet seit mehreren Jahren an der Entwicklung der elektronischen Pille, mit der Medikamente im Darm telemetrisch gesteuert auf Kommando freigesetzt werden können. Das System benötigt dazu eine hochminiaturisierte Elektronik, die in Form eines integrierten Schaltkreises (ASIC) entwickelt wurde.

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.