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medical applications Medical marvels
Warren Clark looks at applications of vision technology in medical diagnosis and treatment
Vision technology is playing an increasingly important role in the medical field, helping improve early detection, diagnosis, treatment, archiving and training methods. The range of applications is diverse and ever-growing: mini-cameras for endoscopies or minimally invasive surgery, scanners to improve the quality of dentures, skin scanners to identify skin cancer, sensitive digital cameras to analyse the retina in ophthalmology, movement analyses in sports medicine and orthopaedics, robot- aided operations, simulation of cosmetic improvements, monitoring and documenting of operations, and many more.
X-ray imaging Dexela is a UK-based company (recently acquired by Perkin Elmer) specialising in CMOS x-ray detectors for use in mammography in particular. The company develops detector hardware to enable a 3D scanning process, leading to a 3D model of the breast, which offers more information for medical teams looking to diagnose abnormalities. Until recently, Dexela was supplying the detectors with Camera Link connectivity, but in response to customer demand, began seeking an Ethernet alternative. James Brodrick, senior electronic engineer and project manager at Dexela, says: ‘Ethernet offers a more elegant solution: the flexible cables, longer cable runs and cheaper hardware. This is particularly important for smaller image panels, which are used, for example, in dental x-ray installations.’ While Camera Link is an ideal solution for
many applications, in this particular case cost sensitivity and flexibility were essential. Camera Link cables cost around $100 each and are limited to maximum runs of 10 metres. They are also largely inflexible when compared to Ethernet cable, and the associated frame grabbers require specialist PC hardware (i.e. a PCI slot) and software. Having made the decision to pursue an Ethernet
VRmagic’s Eyesi training simulator for ophthalmology
solution, Dexela contacted Pleora. ‘We don’t have enough people to sit down and develop our own GigE Vision interface,’ continues Brodrick. ‘Even if we did, it would take a couple of years if we were to design it ourselves.’ John Phillips, senior product manager at
Pleora, says: ‘Dexela considered other options, but ultimately we were able to provide them with a ready-made solution, built on the GigE Vision protocol, which has become an industry standard within the machine vision market. We worked
with Dexela to adapt our existing iPort NTX Mini to enable them to embed our technology in their x-ray detectors, and subsequently output a GigE Vision stream. Essentially, we’re the GigE portion of their panel. They did not need to make any changes to their proprietary technology to capture the x-ray images. Instead of outputting to a Camera Link chip, they now output to our circuitry. We then send the signals across a Gigabit Ethernet link using the GigE Vision protocol. ‘Initially, Dexela bought our small form factor
imaging and machine vision europe october/november 2011
www.imveurope.com
Image courtesy of VRmagic
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