Outer-Wall Loop Antenna for Ultrawideband Capsule Endoscope System

The capsule endoscopy system has been used to obtain an image from the inside of the human digestive tract. To acquire high-resolution images, a loop antenna with ultrawide bandwidth is proposed. It is part of the outer wall of the capsule, thus decreasing volume and increasing performance, and uses a meandered line for resonance in an electrically small area. The proposed antenna makes maximal use of the capsule's outer surface, enabling the antenna to be larger than inner antennas. The measured result shows that the gain of the proposed antenna is higher than that of inner antennas. Return loss and radiation pattern are investigated through simulation and measurement, showing that the proposed antenna has an ultrawide bandwidth of 260 MHz (from 370 to 630 MHz) for VSWR < 2 and an omnidirectional radiation pattern. Using identical antenna pairs in the equivalent body phantom fluid, antenna efficiency is measured to 43.7% (-3.6 dB).