Implantable and ingestible sensors for wireless physiological monitoring: A review

One of the latest applications of wireless biotelemetry is in the field of implantable and ingestible sensors. The former are implanted inside the human body by means of a surgical operation, while the latter are ingested, just like regular pills, and they perform a wide variety of diagnostic and therapeutic functions. Design of implantable and ingestible sensors brings forward several challenges, including miniaturization, powering, patient safety, performance evaluation, etc. Nevertheless, applications of such implantable and ingestible sensors are endless and very-fast growing, thus eliminating any concerns related to the aforementioned challenges and their invasive nature. With such attractive features in mind, this paper provides a review of implantable and ingestible sensors, by discussing the design challenges involved, and highlighting some of the medical applications.