Towards Magnetic Field Gradient-Based Imaging and Control of In-Body Devices

This papers reports a magnetic field gradient-based imaging system for in-body devices which takes inspiration from the localization principles of magnetic resonance imaging. By applying three orthogonal magnetic field gradients, the location of a device inside the body can be determined by measuring the magnetic fields in the device and transmitting this information to an external reader. The proposed system consists of one pair of Helmholtz coils and two pairs of saddle coils and is capable of generating the three orthogonal gradient fields. To emulate an implantable device, a miniature sensor module was designed using off-the-shelf components and semi-passive UHF RFID. The proposed localization system produces magnetic field gradients up to 187.4 G/m while consuming 1 A and achieves an average localization error of 80 µm.