NASA Tech Briefs Insider Blog

In-Orbit Ultrasounds Conducted Onboard Space Vehicles

Medical imaging technology has led to quicker diagnoses of conditions that, when caught early, can be treated. Because such devices are large, however, they are impractical in the limited area of a space vehicle. An on-going NASA project to address the issue involves image fusion, where in-orbit ultrasounds would be combined with previously done Earth-bound scans that are more informative. NASA Tech Briefs spoke with Dr. Richard Boyle, the project’s principal investigator.

Dr. Boyle explained, “Image fusion is the combining of images of the same subject from different modalities, from CT scans to MRIs. This produces a coherent 3D image that has multi-dimensional information that should be superior to any of the constituent images alone.”

Read the “Who’s Who at NASA” interview with Dr. Richard Boyle on page 10 of the June issue, or click here.

Scientists have begun the final leg of a five-year, NASA-funded mission to reach the bottom of Cenote Zacatón in Mexico, the world’s deepest known sinkhole. Using the Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX), scientists aim to learn more about Cenote Zacatón’s physical dimensions, the geothermal vents that feed it, and the forms of life that exist in its depths.

DEPTHX — an autonomous submarine that creates 3D maps of previously unexplored areas as it swims along and then uses those same maps to navigate back to the surface — is designed to survey and explore life in extreme regions on Earth and potentially in outer space. DEPTHX’s technology could be applied to future space probes of Europa, where scientists believe that deep cracks and holes in the ice offer a chance of finding extraterrestrial life. The technology has also been approved for a new NASA mission to explore one of Antarctica’s ice-bound polar lakes.

For more information, click here.

New data-display technology developed at Kent State University will provide doctors with an improved ability to evaluate commonly used medical images. The technology allows for interactive viewing of large image data sets from virtually any medical imaging device. The new system is compatible with all imaging devices, will translate and display data immediately and in its entirety, and allows for user- friendly manipulation of the data for evaluation and analysis.

While the technology can be applied to any large 3D or 4D data set, it is most readily applicable to medical images. For instance, CT scans generate large 3D and 4D data sets. The new technology will produce 3D, high-quality, real-time images of the data to help medical professionals more clearly view and rapidly extract important diagnostic information about the body’s structures or disease processes.

For more information, click here.

MIT researchers have developed a new type of laser based on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) for taking high-resolution, 3D images of the retina. OCT uses light to obtain high-resolution, cross-sectional images of the eye to visualize subtle changes that occur in retinal disease.

Conventional OCT imaging typically yields a series of 2D cross-sectional images of the retina, which can be combined to form a 3D image of its volume. The system works by scanning light back and forth across the eye, measuring the echo time delay of reflected light along micrometer-scale lines that, row by row, build up high-resolution images.

Commercial OCT systems scan the eye at rates ranging from several hundred to several thousand lines per second. But a typical patient can only keep the eye still for about one second, limiting the amount of 3D data that can be acquired. Using the new laser, the researchers report retinal scans at speeds of up to 236,000 lines per second, a factor of 10 improvement over current OCT technology.

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Autodesk, Inc. (San Rafael, CA) now offers Autodesk Inventor 2008 software, the latest release of its 3D mechanical design application. The new release features DWG intero- perability, AliasStudio interoperability, sheet metal design tools, ribbon cable design tools, and sketch productivity tools.
For more information, click here.

Dassault Systèmes (Paris, France) offers CAVA (CATIA Automotive extensions, Vehicle Architecture), its latest Business Process Accelerator (BPA) for the automotive industry. Today’s automakers must comply with multiple government-regulated standards and norms, and CAVA ensures legal conformity of the car architecture during the entire creation process.
For more information, click here.

Informative Graphics Corporation (Scottsdale, AZ) announced the latest release of its MYRIAD(R) 3D/2D CAD viewer that offers a single interface for multiple 3D and 2D CAD formats. The 3D viewing features include multi-plane cutaways/cross sections, 3D measurement, interactive explode, part identification, and part details.
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Version 5 of NX software from UGS Corp. (Plano, TX) is the next generation of the company’s digital product development software designed to help companies develop products faster and more cost-efficiently. In addition to flexible design tools, NX 5 embeds the JT(TM) data format to support files from multiple CAD programs to speed the design process.
For more information, click here.