Pill camera teardown

Investigation of pill camera used for capsule endoscopy.
Here's a teardown of a different type of pill-cam : • Another pill-cam teardown

[@redtails]

27:55 XD dude, wow, you even dismantled the receiver unit that still needed to go back with data on it

[@redtails]

Great video! I never knew you could get sophisticated video data out of body-contact electrodes !

[@ForViewingOnly]

Fascinating video, thanks Mike. Hilarious intro! I was well impressed by the oscilloscope work you did and had never seen that intensity grading feature before. Can't get my mind off the horrors of the pillcam recovery and cleanup process though.

[@TheCrazyInventor]

Ah man, you've got some unique and very interesting hardware teardowns on your channel. I love them, please keep them coming. :)

[@photolodge]

You are a very smart, well informed man. Enjoy watching the madness. Thanks

[@tHaH4x0r]

Very nice video as always! i sincerely enjoy your teardown videos!

[@matthewbeardmore]

Nice teardown, yours are always interesting to watch.

[@CampKohler]

The grunting and washing-up bit was priceless!

[@RobertGallop]

A good one indeed, thanks for being so detailed!

[@mikeselectricstuff]

The I2C interface on chip cameras is for setup only - you can't get video data on any that I've seen. It's possible it's a custom chip or MCU, but if so I'd expect it to only be doing power management, in particular the on/off control - it's hard to get at 3 of the pins but one of the accessible pins has the LED pulse on it. I'll attempt to probe the others at some point. Modifying an existing CMOS camera to add a manchester encoder and a frame count wouldn't be a huge expense.

[@im2geek4you]

Awesome! No one does teardowns as cool as yours!

[@Nermash]

Another great one Mike:)

[@mikeselectricstuff]

I managed to scope the other hard-to-get-at pins - it only has LED waveforms on it, so probably a constant-current regulator/switch.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

There would be scope for lossless, or controlled-loss compression - the sensor and optics limit ultimate quality to below what you could jpeg with negligible loss, but it isn't really necessary for the camera-to-receiver link. Looking at overall bandwidth, the receiver will be doing some compression - 320x320x3fpsx12 hours = 12gbytes but it only has 4gbytes flash

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Yes definitely, but I didn't know that at the time, and I was very worried about damaging the flex as I really wanted to look at the data format - from the outside the bottom looked like it may have had a wire passed through and glued from the outside. I don't think building a decoder for the data via a direct connection as opposed to via the body would be at all difficult - could probably translate their code to a fast UART stream on a fast MCU of CPLD and throw it at a PC via USB.

[@fourthdimensionfilms]

This was a really interesting breakdown - Many thanks for doing this, an enjoyable watch :-)

[@marcan42]

The encoding looks like Differential Manchester / BMC (since it seems polarity doesn't matter, only transitions, and depending on the header frame count value the rest of the header can be inverted).

[@mikeselectricstuff]

OK "manchester-like" if you insist - I, and I'm sure many others refer to any code that uses this type of coding method as manchester coding even if not strictly true, as it has the same basic qualities of being DC free, and polarity agnostic and fixed bit-length, and manchester coding is probably the most widley understood term to describe this style of datastream.

[@georgevogt7251]

Dude, I love your oscilloscope!

[@blogsterification]

i've read about manchester code in books.thats the first time i've seen it in use.luving that scope by the way .great tear down

[@optisonics]

In the case of an obese person, would the increase in fat cause a greater resistance to current thus reducing the amount of detectable voltage at the electrode pads? (the camera to external electrode would also be more.) Also, there must be some sort of automatic gain control in the recorder beltpack. Would the radio transmitter brand be used instead in such cases?

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Another thought - 320x320 isn't a standard resolution, so that alone would suggest a custom camera chip. this application is unusual in that there is no natural orientation. If you look at sample mirocam footage on youtube, they clip to an octagonal window, presumably due to lens distortion at the corners.

[@donpalmera]

I didn't even know these things existed. Great teardown.

[@lastchancename]

Great breakdown. I'd love to have seen the output deciphered... As you say, it looked like raw line/pixel data and may have been interesting for other uses. And yes- assuming patients don't keep them as souvenirs (!) there must be tens of thousands of these floating around out there in medical waste incinerators - adding lithium and silver oxide to the environment. Cheers

[@mikeselectricstuff]

I was thinking of adding some soundtrack tunes - Peter Gabriel's 'Digging in the dirt' and Screamin' Jay Hawkins 'constipation blues' (search KZbin for this) but decided against in the name of taste!

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Agilent MSO6034A - predecessor to the current MSOX range.

[@HansVanIngelgom]

Looking at the insides of something designed to look at your insides... I call that revenge!

[@jam99]

Silver oxide cells often end up 'imbalanced'. The drop off in voltage when expired is very abrupt so that a slight capacity difference between two cells will see one dead and the other still ok, while the voltage has dropped below what the electronics needs and, depending on that, it may then draw relatively negligible current. The choice of Ag2O rather than any Li chemistry is probably down to safety, easy transport and the availability of lots of difference sizes and capacities (this is very limited for non-rechargeable Li where the classic coin cell has the wrong form factor to be useful for this pill shaped application and double the voltage).

[@closure4791]

Yeah, safety, yet they put a MERCURY reed switch in there...!

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

That is so awesome!!

[@moinky2k]

The white wire may be some sort of antenna which picks up the surrounding EM noise in order to substract it from the electrode signal to get a better SNR. Seen this technique on a ECG.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Panasonic HDC-SD20 camcorder - no additional lens or anything needed.

[@coondogtheman]

I would have loved to see a decoded image off of this camera. Could that be done without the receiver by probing the test points and then decoding that data into an image on a PC or something.

[@umloginqualquer]

Totally agree he didn't do anything wrong by checking the insides of the receiver. He didn't play with it, nor tampered it, nor tried to retrieve the data stored, etc. He knows electronics and knows what he's doing, so all you laymans better keep your opinions to things you actually understand.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

AFAICT about $700 - not sure if this includes the doctor's markup

[@hanndoddi]

I am curious why blur the info on the receiver? Thx for a very interesing video lot of things i learn

[@0livingdeadgirl]

Do you know if you can some how reuse theses camera pills

[@nihilist4184]

HOW MUCH WHERE YOU YOU GET IT HOW DO YOU RECORD IT AND WHO WILL DO A REPORT ON IT FOR YOUR HEALTH?

[@aerofart]

Mike, You've outdone yourself - once again! This Pill Cam episode was brilliant! Can you tell us why you were you blurring the label on the receiver? Thanks for taking the time to produce and share these videos with us; coupled with your sense of humor and your electronics insights, they make for MUCH better edutainment than the "Discovery" channel . . .

[@fig8man]

love the intro

[@2n918]

Please clean it first! LOL! That would be a given! Great vid Mike. Really enjoyed it. Thanks for posting.

[@Andrew_Sparrow]

Anyone know how much they cost as a "throw away" item?

[@uTube486]

Why block the data plate??

[@redtails]

26:38 "Modern iPhone style" XD

[@douro20]

Which scope are you using?

[@jessejackers]

Where to buy it

[@helicoptered]

awww I real hope so, you was half way there with that video i listen to everything you said, and knew about you reading volts per div .. theat is a gd sope not seen one that can do all that, and I saw your thumb go over the light and seen the data packets change on the scope,, but to see it cranks an image of text or an object would be the best an first. well done! ,most impressed so far, from ur own skill would be the crack of cracks :)

[@RandyLott]

Now we know why you got that electric wheelchair! Haha, ouch. *squirt*... cool, electronics!

[@Andrew_Sparrow]

Sorry I asked the $ before the end of the video :) You are a braver man than me opening the receiver up! I would be afraid of wiping the data somehow, slip of the screwdriver or some battery backup disconnected, case open alert, etc ;)

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Stay tuned - it may well happen!

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Think about it.... the receiver had to go back before I had access to the camera.

[@hanndoddi]

I also am currious about Q1

[@Afrotechmods]

Groovy!

[@professionalandsilen]

play nice with the equipments!

[@JGunlimited]

Idea for a giveway - share the image data and a giveaway of your choice to first person who can recreate an image. (Also assume this comment was made 3yrs ago =P)

[@ANDREYgrava21]

i love when you tear down all that medical stuff...

[@antonmaier2263]

impressive

[@helicoptered]

sorry about typos i'm in dark lighting ;-)

[@umloginqualquer]

Every good electronics workshop will look pretty much the same, there's no way to avoid that.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Not waste incinerators - sewage works.

[@gryzman]

you can't use jpeg or any other compression like that that in medical imagery, because it is going to loose quality and introduce artefacts. You need lossless compression, if any. Never mind the silicon die size, and power requirements.

[@helicoptered]

Awww, I wanted to see you decode the image format and make it see stuff

[@ACTractionLTD]

At the beginning you should have said, whats the crack here then!

[@tlv1117]

That being said, I can't imagine ever doing this! Dissecting the disposable transmitter, yes... Being tempted to dissect the receiver... sure. Actually doing it... not so much.

[@agoodm]

Very interesting. I would have called this an extreme tear down :-)

[@aerofart]

Ah, I see. Must have missed his mention of that. Thanks *pelrun*

[@Jeroenz0r]

Hmm uTube486 asked the same thing 7 months ago; why did you block out the sticker?

[@blogsterification]

cleaned up nice :)

[@uTube486]

I ment to say.. Why block the data plate @26:40.

[@jerzmacow]

Looks like dave's workshop

[@helicoptered]

Damn, this scares me somewhat of my ring being damaged)))))))))

[@dos541]

700 dollars for that thing i gotta say medical equipment is insanely expensive now days and theres probably only 50 dollars worth of electronics in that thing and add on 30 dollars manufacturing costs the medical conapnys just charge a lot so they can make a lot on money becaues they know prople still have to go to the hospital even if it is expensive and if you dont have health insurance going to the hospital costs way too much

[@DXR13KE]

Inception...

[@JGunlimited]

$700 o_0!

[@_Junkers]

That's pretty cheap given the level of engineering.

[@superdau]

For me it's always the last to watch, because I like to keep the best stuff for the end!

[@helicoptered]

he said the pill was about $700

[@douro20]

It was made in Korea...

[@TiredOldFart]

NRZ

[@o0Tao0o]

I would have worn gloves while handling that. ;)

[@Landrew0]

bathroom humour

[@banjax66]

This channel is full of shit or shit byproducts. Great channel Mick. I love it. Keep it coming. Ian.

[@ACTractionLTD]

:P

[@MarlosZappa]

OMG IT'S USED EWWWW

[@clovisfritzen9273]

His speaking is low volume and not pronounced well. holly

[@mikeselectricstuff]

There would be scope for lossless, or controlled-loss compression - the sensor and optics limit ultimate quality to below what you could jpeg with negligible loss, but it isn't really necessary for the camera-to-receiver link. Looking at overall bandwidth, the receiver will be doing some compression - 320 x 320 x 3fps x 12 hours = 12gbytes but it only has 4gbytes flash