News
Philips to acquire medical imaging company Volcano for $1.2bn
Philips has announced that it will acquire Volcano, a specialist in catheter-based imaging and measurement solutions for cardiovascular applications, for $1.2 billion. Te transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015, adds technology and expertise to Philips’ portfolio in the field of image-guided therapies. In the last few years, Philips has created
a successful image-guided therapy business and has developed a portfolio of interventional imaging equipment, navigation tools, and services, as well as a sizeable global customer base, including each of the top 50 heart surgery and cardiology hospitals in the United States. With 2013 sales of approximately US
$400 million, San Diego, California-based Volcano is a leader in catheter–based imaging and measurements for minimally invasive diagnostics and treatment of coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease. In addition, the company possesses
one of broadest product portfolios around these two technologies, a leading IP position and a nascent peripheral vascular therapeutics business that targets a segment with a double-digit growth rate. According to Philips, combining the
two companies will create new sources of recurring revenue streams and increase sales growth for Philips in the European image-guided therapy market worth €4 billion. Te combination of Volcano’s clinical development and commercialisation capabilities with Philips’ next generation of imaging and measurement technologies, will allow Philips to introduce new solutions in higher growth segments, such as the minimally invasive treatment of heart rhythm disorders and structural heart diseases. Upon completion of the transaction,
the Volcano business and its 1,800 employees will be part of a new image- guided therapy business group within Philips.
Rendering of the LSST camera. SLAC is leading the construction of the 3,200-megapixel camera
Te US Department of Energy has approved funding to build what will be the world’s largest digital camera as part of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), planned for construction in Chile. Te 3,200-megapixel camera will take digital images of the entire visible southern sky when the telescope is operational, which is scheduled for 2022. LSST will generate approximately six million
gigabytes of data per year that will help researchers study the formation of galaxies, track potentially hazardous asteroids, observe exploding stars and better understand dark matter and dark energy, which make up 95 per cent of the universe. ‘Tis important decision endorses the camera
fabrication budget that we proposed,’ said LSST director Steven Kahn. ‘Together with the construction funding we received from the National Science Foundation in August, it is now
clear that LSST will have the support it needs to be completed on schedule.’ Te camera will be built at the Department of
Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. ‘Te telescope is a key part of the long-term strategy to study dark energy and other scientific topics in the United States and elsewhere,’ said David MacFarlane, SLAC’s director of particle physics and astrophysics. Over a 10-year time frame, the observatory
will detect tens of billions of objects, the first time a telescope will catalogue more objects in the universe than there are people on Earth. Te project has received ‘Critical Decision
2’ approval from the DOE. Te LSST team can now move forward with the development of the camera and prepare for the ‘Critical Decision 3’ review process next summer, the last requirement before actual fabrication of the camera can begin.
Algorithm developed to track people across multiple cameras
University of Washington engineers have developed an automatic tracking system that can follow people across moving and still cameras. The algorithm used identifies a person in a video frame and can track them across multiple camera views in real time. ‘Tracking humans
automatically across cameras in a three-dimensional space is
6 Imaging and Machine Vision Europe • February/March 2015
new,’ said lead researcher Jenq- Neng Hwang, a UW professor of electrical engineering. ‘As the cameras talk to each other, we are able to describe the real world in a more dynamic sense.’ In the past, tracking people across non-overlapping fields of view had been difficult due to changing perspectives and colour hues produced by different cameras. To overcome
this, the researchers linked the cameras by calibrating each one to a short period of training data. This data allows the systems to recognise the difference in colour, texture and angle. Once the link has been
formed, the tracking system identifies a person and collects data on the body movement as well as the clothing texture and colour.
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www.imveurope.com
World’s largest digital camera given funding approval
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
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