Vision of pill-size camera taking focus

A team of researchers in Norway are the latest to join the race to develop a pill-size camera for endoscopic use in the medical applications, according to a recent report from The Research Council of Norway.

Similar to research out of California (see "Magnetically guided device eyed for medical applications"), the camera would be used to take images inside the stomach and intestine in an effort to detect abnormalities. The aim is to develop wireless communication between medical equipment within and outside the human body.

Said Ilangko Balasingham, project manager at Oslo University Hospital’s (OUS) Intervention Center: “Our pill will employ wireless ultra-wideband technology with enough bandwidth to handle live, high-quality video transmission of observations from the intestine. It will also communicate its coordinates via radio so that the doctors can pinpoint its location in the body.”

The research project, dubbed “Melody,” is a collaboration of the OUS, the University of Oslo, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment.

The Research Council of Norway report also includes a brief video showing researchers inserting a transmitter into a pig and receiving video images back.