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Holoxica secures €1.28m EU funding for holographic video display


Holoxica, a holographic 3D visualisation company, has secured €1.28 million from the European Commission to build a holographic video display for use in CT, MRI and ultrasound volumetric scanning. Holoxica’s R&D has revealed that holographic video display technology is capable of producing large, bright images that effectively ‘float’ in mid-air without the need for 3D glasses. ‘In recent years, there has certainly been improvements in the clarity and detail of datasets produced by ultrasound, CT, PET and MRI scanners, but while these machines generate 3D volumetric imagery as a series of 2D slices scanned through the body using radiation, we can present the scans as wholly 3D images via holographic volume displays,’ Dr Javid Khan, founder and CEO of Holoxica, explained. ‘The display essentially performs


the inverse operation and converts radiation into a photonic representation, showing the 2D slices as a series of light sheets suspended in free space.’ These types of systems could be of particular help for medical professionals performing minimally invasive surgery, as they have to rely completely on the screen to see what’s happening.


A holographic imaging system


has previously been developed by Royal Philips, the healthcare arm of Philips, and holographic display company, RealView Imaging. The team completed a clinical trial in 2013, whereby doctors were able to view detailed dynamic 3D holographic images of the heart ‘floating in free space’ during a minimally-invasive structural heart disease procedure. When built, Holoxica’s holographic video display will be tested in three pilot scenarios for medical teacher/ training; diagnostics, review and monitoring of conditions and also for live surgery. According to Holoxica, Siemens Healthcare is keen to trial the technology, once it is ready for clinical use.


France to add solar panels to 1,000km of road


F


rance has announced plans to pave 1,000km of road with photovoltaic panels in the next five years. If


successful, the programme could supply electricity to five million people – roughly eight per cent of the French population. Speaking at a conference of transport authorities in January, France’s minister of ecology and energy, Ségolène Royal, said that tenders for the Positive Energy initiative had already been issued, and the testing of the panels would begin in the spring.


sticking 7mm thick strips to the road’s surface.


The technology for this was created


by Colas, a company involved in the construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure. The company’s Wattway panels were unveiled in October 2015 after five years of development.


‘ Solar roads will be able to provide power to street lights, signs, tramways, as well as housing’


Solar roads will be able to provide power to street lights, signs, and tramways, as well as housing. According to France’s Agency of Environment and Energy Management, just four metres of ‘solarised’ road is enough to supply one household’s electricity needs (excluding heating), and 1km is enough to power the street lights for a town of 5,000 inhabitants.


The ‘solarising’ of France’s roads involves 12 ELECTRO OPTICS l MARCH 2016 The panels are comprised of


photovoltaic cells embedded in a multilayer substrate. They collect solar energy via a thin film of polycrystalline silicon that enables the production of electricity. On the underside of the panels,


there is a connection to a lateral module containing the electrical safety components. The cells are also resistant to the passage


of heavy goods vehicles – tests have shown that they can bear one million truck tyre passes without damage – and are skid- resistant. Wattway panels have an efficiency of 15 per cent, and are installed directly onto the road, without the need for any additional civil engineering work.


@electrooptics | www.electrooptics.com


Colas, Joachim Bertrand


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