A miniature bidirectional RF communication system for micro gastrointestinal robots

This paper reports a miniature, low power, two-channel, bidirectional wireless communication system that can be used in the first generation of micro gastrointestinal (GI) robots. The system consists of a miniature RF transceiver embedded in the GI robot and a control station outside the body. ISM band radio frequency (approx. 433 MHz) was used to achieve half duplex communication between the GI robot and the control station. The Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) modulation scheme was adopted to ensure a reliable and high-speed digital RF link. Animal tests have been carried out to prove the performance of the communication system.