Wi-Fi enabled cameras for surgical lights
Surgical light systems are essential components of operating rooms, providing surgeons and medical staff with optimal illumination during surgical procedures. These lighting systems are designed to provide bright, shadow-free illumination of the surgical field, enabling surgeons to perform procedures with precision and accuracy. They often consist of multiple light sources, such as LED or halogen bulbs, arranged in a specific configuration to achieve uniform lighting across the surgical area.
An integrated high-resolution camera is often offered as an option by surgical light manufacturers. It is used to record the procedure for training and quality assurance purposes, and to provide a live feed to the medical team within the operating theatre.
Using a Wi-Fi-enabled camera has the obvious benefit of not adding to the complex cabling system within an operating theatre. An IP camera uses its own IP address to connect to a network and doesn’t rely on being connected to a PC or alternative host device. Cameras can be easily added to an existing network, and many of the camera’s functions can be controlled over the IP connection.
Since recently launching our wireless IP block camera range, we have supplied sample cameras to a number of surgical light manufacturers who are currently testing and prototyping new lighting units. These are some of the reasons they came to us:
Low latency
Our Harrier IP cameras offer extremely low latency which is essential for any member of the surgical team viewing the video stream during procedures. While each element of a vision system will add to the overall latency, integrators can address aspects of each component to reduce this as much as possible. We’ve put together a technical note with advice on optimizing latency and included some glass-to-glass measurements for some of our Harrier cameras.
Output
A Harrier IP camera, such as the Harrier 10x AF-Zoom IP/HDMI Camera (based on the Tamron MP3010M-EV) transmits and receives data over a network using Harrier IP Camera Interface Board technology. The interface board compresses the camera LVDS video signal (using H.264), converts it to an RTP video stream and sends it to a WiFi wireless module integrated on to the Harrier IP board. The Harrier IP Website makes for simple and intuitive control of the interface board, camera and the IP video output.
Easy integration with existing vision systems
As our autofocus-zoom camera solutions are amongst the smallest available, they are likely to fit easily into existing video system set-ups as replacements or upgrades. The Harrier 10x AF-Zoom IP/HDMI Camera measures just 70 x 38.7 x 43mm, and we also offer proven Sony technology in the form of the Harrier 30x AF-Zoom IP Camera, built on the Sony FCB-EV9520L.
Advanced autofocus features
The Harrier range of IP cameras includes modules with 10x up to 40x optical zoom and fast autofocus, meaning high-resolution video recording regardless of how the surgeon may move the light unit during the procedure.
Additional features are available for crisp image acquisition such as Digital Image Stabilizer, Digital Noise Reduction and Wide Dynamic Range offered by the Harrier 10x AF-Zoom IP Camera, and similar features on other models.
Harrier wireless IP autofocus-zoom cameras offer the high-quality video transmission required by medical professionals in a small, light but extremely powerful package. The range of cameras we provide means that any surgical light manufacturer will be able to find an ideal solution for new or existing set-ups. Speak to us today about testing one.
