Surgeons who depend on video images in the operating room are about to get a big boost in picture resolution.
Using a new optical sub-assembly to do the so-called "muxing" and "demuxing," they'll be able to send video images from in-body probes to operating-room monitors without the loss of resolution that often occurs during such transfers.
"If you want high-definition video, you have to be able to convert the (electrical) signals to optical, and we're the first to be able to do this in the operating room," Craig Morris, Video over Fiber sales manager for Omron Electronic Components LLC, maker of the new optical sub-assembly, told us.
Omron's SX4 Mini Module boosts high-def video resolution by changing digital signals to optical. (Source: Omron Network Products LLC)
He said that the technology addresses a problem that has long plagued operating room (OR) video systems. Because OR real estate is at a premium, images are normally passed through, and stored in, servers as far as 300 feet from the surgical suite. As the images move from the OR to the server and back, resolution is lost.
"You have a choice," Jeff Brown, senior sales engineer for Omron, said in an interview. "You can put the server 300 feet away and have lousy video, or you can put it in the operating room and have good video. But up to now, you couldn't have both."
Omron's solution is a multiplexing/de-multiplexing (muxing/demuxing) device that converts the signals to an optical format, which won't lose resolution as it caroms back and forth between the OR and the server. Earlier this year, Omron announced the release of a Video-over-Fiber component, called the SX4 Mini Module, which offers a throughput of 14Gb/s over a single optical fiber. Late last year, the company demonstrated transmission of HD video over distances of 300m using the technology.
In the OR, the mini module would be used to convert digital signals to optical as they leave an in-body probe and begin their journey to the server. The optical signals would then be converted back to digital at the remote server, back to optical after leaving the server, and again back to digital at the OR monitor. Up to now, there was no conversion to optical. Digital signals typically travelled over copper-based cables, and resolution was lost in the process, according to Omron.
The SX4 Mini Module, which is about the size of a baby's pinky finger, enables the muxing and demuxing because it contains lasers, filters, prisms, and reflectors aligned in extremely precise ways. Omron said the company is able to mount the parts within a plastic housing to a precision of about 1µm. Cost of the technology is expected to be high, however, possibly reaching about $400 for a transmitter-receiver pair.
The company predicts the technology will see use in applications inside and outside the medical industry. In addition to endoscopy, colonoscopy, and robotic surgery, Omron engineers foresee it being applied in digital signs, high-end audio-visual systems, and high-definition television broadcast systems. "Anywhere you see long runs of high-definition video, you could use this," Morris said.
Agreed, that many articles here are indeed based on press releases, though I expect (I hope not unreasonably) those press releases to be at least looked at and vetted for technical rigor and not just passed along as fact.
Also agreed, that encouraging innovation and inquistiveness is a Good Thing. Having one's expectations raised by overenthusiastic and uncritical PR is, however, a waste of valuable engineering time.
We'll just have to disagree on whether this is "good article."
AJ2X - I'm not getting you wrong at all. I definitely get what you're saying. It's unfortunate that you've labeled my post a "shill comment". I prefer positive and respectful.
I stand by my comment that the article is a good one. What Charles wrote is sound. Many articles here are based on press releases. Each also gives a little more information to provide a bigger picture and encourage inquisitiveness. That's a good thing.
Yes, surgeries are pretty much entirely wired. Hospitals are conservative entities, and adopt new technology like wireless slowly and carefully -- intereference between devices can mean life or death. Video particularly is mostly copper based, since any loss of resolution (there's that word again) or time delay between a surgeon's movements and the picture on the monitor is unacceptable, both of which can occur with wireless video as it usually is implemented today.
Additionally, many (most?) video systems in ORs are on mobile carts, completely independent of any servers or permanently-installed monitors. A camera, light source, recorder/printer and monitor all reside together in a cart to be moved rapidly from OR to OR as needed. A single power cable is plugged in, and it's ready to use. A second, coax video, cable could extend to a built-in video system if wider viewing or monitoring is required. Very little compelling need for wireless links.
I did note the "if" in your statement, which is a throwaway word here to emphasize the statement about "exponentially better picture". Nowhere in the article is "exponentially" used, so it looked to me like you were trying to claim even more amazing things for this product. It looked like a shill comment to me, which I don't think was your intention.
Don't get me wrong -- this irtem from Omron is no doubt a useful device, and I can see places where it might be productively used. But the claim that "Digital signals typically travelled over copper-based cables, and resolution was lost in the process" is just not accurate. Technically inaccurate statements and publicity flack do not make a "good article."
Is surgical video all wired? That would seem to be the only application for this device. Although I assume that going wireless would compound the problem.
NadineJ -- This device, inserted in a digital video transmission system, cannot deliver any improvement in video resolution. The resolution is set by the camera -- anything added to it can only degrade the resolution or at best maintain it.
Long distance digital video transmission by optical fibers (and other means) is pretty well-established and successful, and has and will work well for telesurgery and robotics.
dbarto; You are correct about HDMI having signal-quality degradation over distance in wire, as all signals do without repeaters or equalizers of some sort. Optical transmission is better at that sort of thing, though it needs repeaters also. But the claims for this optical device were about resolution improvements, and it cannot deliver that.
Incidentally, HDMI is not common in laparoscopic camera-aided surgery -- it's mostly HD-SDI in the US and DVI-D in Europe. And the explosive-gas argument is a non-issue: ORs have long been full of electronic equipment operating at much higher voltages and powers than are present in any video transmission method.
Thanks for this, Chuck, this is an exciting development in vision technology. Interesting that the technology comes from Omron; they make a lot more than just imaging equipment.
Using almost 200 light-emitting diodes in the front and back of the new 2014 CTS, Cadillac designers are showing how LEDs can change the character of a vehicle.
We recently posted an online slideshow called, “18 People You Didn’t Know Were Engineers.” Within hours of its publication, readers began to suggest names of other luminaries -- astronauts, politicians, athletes and actors -- who were educated or had worked as engineers.
In yet another sign that hydrogen is creeping into the consciousness of global automotive designers, sports car maker Aston Martin plans to run a hydrogen-fueled vehicle in a 24-hour Grand Touring race later this month.
One of the ugly truths of engineering is that life has a price. Cars, buildings, power plants, and industrial machinery can always be made safer for a cost, but manufacturers are at the mercy of the market.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
4 
