| Front and rear cameras inside the capsule, allowing doctors to control from outside the body
| Position and attitude control possible, high-speed transmission of 24 shots per second
| Plans to enter the upper gastrointestinal tract market first, including China and Europe

A domestic research team has succeeded in developing a capsule endoscope that can effectively diagnose the esophagus and stomach, which account for approximately 54% of human digestive diseases, in collaboration with a domestic company, using human communication technology.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 14th that it has made possible high-speed transmission of 24 frames per second, which is four times faster than the existing video transmission speed of domestic companies, by utilizing the InBody human body communication technology that transmits data using the human body as a medium.

ETRI explained that the InBody human body communication technology enabled high-speed data communication, making detailed observation possible even in areas where capsules pass quickly, such as the esophagus. As the capsule descends quickly, many areas need to be photographed at once, and this has been resolved.

The research team explained that they used ▲signal modulation technology ▲receiver structure change technology of analog circuits to increase the speed required to transmit large amounts of image data using high-speed shooting.
The capsule used in the endoscope measures 1cm x 3.1cm. The capsule acts as a transmitter and contains an LED lamp, two front and rear cameras, a coin-type battery, and a magnet inside.

The images captured by the capsule are transmitted and stored to a cell phone-sized receiver outside the body via electrodes attached to the body or a belt-type receiver. The resolution is 320 x 320 dpi and the battery can last for 2 hours.

The doctor can control the capsule, which contains a magnet, from outside the body using a magnetic controller while looking at the receiver. The capsule can be freely positioned or made to rest on the stomach wall for more detailed observation.

The research team explained that the system is composed of ▲a capsule endoscope for the upper gastrointestinal tract ▲an image analysis system for symptom interpretation ▲a terminal receiver for the upper gastrointestinal tract.

In the case of conventional endoscopes for upper gastrointestinal examinations, cross-infection due to reuse, abdominal discomfort due to foreign body sensation or air injection, and nausea or belching of the examinee were factors that made examinations difficult, but capsule endoscopes can compensate for these shortcomings.

Capsule endoscopy is expected to have a promising role in helping doctors diagnose as a means to replace wired endoscopy in the future.

The capsule endoscopy market currently accounts for approximately 64% in advanced countries such as North America and Europe, while demand has been rapidly increasing in China recently. The market size is expected to grow steadily at an average annual rate of 9.3% from KRW 742.4 billion in 2018 to KRW 1.0595 trillion by 2022.

The research team plans to first expand the use of upper gastrointestinal capsule endoscopes in China, which has the highest incidence of gastrointestinal diseases, and in the UK and Europe, which have a high incidence of esophageal diseases, together with partner companies.
In the future, we plan to further develop this technology and focus on developing technology and products that can examine the entire digestive system, including the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small intestine, and large intestine. The current examination time is approximately 8 to 10 hours. InBody's human body communication can operate for up to 12 hours, providing ample time for testing.

We also plan to develop a capsule endoscope that mainly uses one-way communication to enable two-way communication, so that the shooting and operating speed can be controlled.

InBody's human body communication technology can achieve data transmission speeds of up to 10 Mbps. It was revealed that this will increase the speed to enable shooting up to 50 frames per second in the future, while also improving the resolution of the captured images.

This research has been conducted as part of the Ministry of Science and ICT's 'Giga Korea Project' since 2015, and 5 SCI-level papers and 17 domestic and international patents related to 'InBody human communication technology' have been applied for. The research team successfully developed a prototype of a high-resolution capsule endoscope for the small intestine based on human communication through joint research with IntroMedic. ETRI transferred the InBody human communication source technology to IntroMedic in July of last year.

Through the Giga Korea Phase 2 commercialization project, ETRI developed the commercialization technology for the InBody human communication capsule endoscope system, which enables position and posture control with IntroMedic and is the best in terms of transmission speed and operation time.

“The way has opened for more accurate and comfortable examinations of the esophagus and stomach,” said Park Hyung-il, project manager of ETRI’s SoC design research group. “Compared to global commercial products, this technology has great competitiveness in position control, data transmission, etc.”

IntroMedic Research Institute Director Lee Byeong-seok said, “We plan to begin commercialization of this technology in earnest after completing verification of the system and certification tests for product approval around next year.”