FBG sensor devices for spatial shape detection of intelligent colonoscope

Two novel kinds of slim FBG (fiber Bragg grating) sensor devices and their application are presented, which can show the three-dimensional image of colonoscope shape on a video screen. One of the two kinds of sensor device is for gradual detection; the other is for real-time dynamic reconstruction. The sensing network device comprises a plurality of FBG sensors mounted on the body of a flexible wire. After the colonoscope is advanced in the body, the wire is pushed through the biopsy channel of the colonoscope. It bends with the curvature of the colonoscope. The FBG sensors capture deformation of the sensor wire, and reconstruct the shape of colonoscope. Experiments in the colon of a live swine have been done. Configuration of experimental system and experimental result are also given.