Effects of vibratory actuation on endoscopic capsule vision.

Current research in capsule endoscopy aims at endowing the capsules with some means of actively propelling themselves inside the gastrointestinal (GO tract, as opposed Advantages of these active capsules are the sipificant potential in the duration of the associated diagnostic procedures. as well as the oossihilitv to direct the line-of-sieht of the oh-hoard cameras towards interesting features of the GI tissue. One such means of active propulsion is by vibratory actuation, employing eccentric-mass micromotors, which is shown to reduce the friction of the capsule with the GI tract. The effect of vibrations on the quality of the acquired images is explored in the present study, which demonstrates that such vibrations do not affect adversely the diagnostic effectiveness of the endoscopic capsules. The parameters of vibratory actuation are evaluated as to the loss bf high-frequency information in the acquired images, due to the induced motion blur, and appropriate design guidelines for the vibratory actuation system are established. The validity of this study has been evaluated by ex-vivo and in-vivo experiments.