Other

University of Houston System

Michael Conditt

Philip C Noble

Gangbing Song

Liang Ren

A displacement sensor based on the underlying principle that when the outer surface of a quartz fiber (fiber optic cable) is etched to form a series of regularly spaced lines (a Fiber Bragg grating), laser light of a wavelength matching the spacing of the lines which enters one end of the fiber will be preferentially reflected. If the fiber is deformed, causing the line spacing to change, the wavelength of the reflected light will also change. This shift can be accurately measured and so can be related to the magnitude of the deformation of the fiber. This fiber is potted with epoxy resin in a narrow tube fabricated from a shape-memory alloy (SMA), and pre-formed into a curved shape. This not only protects the quartz fiber from direct contact with other objects and excessive bending, but also causes it to deform in a predictable fashion, thereby generating a reproducible response to displacement. Due to the high elastic behavior of the SMA tube, a displacement sensor with a gage length of 40 mm can measure displacements in excess of 3 mm.

Design and performance of a Fiber Bragg grating displacement sensor for measurement of movement

A method is disclosed for analyzing surgical techniques using a computer system for gathering and analyzing surgical data acquired during a surgical procedure on a body portion and comparing that data to pre-selected target values for the particular surgical procedure. The inventive method allows the surgeon, for example, to measure the technical success of a surgical procedure in terms of quantifiable geometric, spatial, kinematic or kinetic parameters. The method comprises calculation of these parameters from data collected during a surgical procedure and then comparing these results with values of the same parameters derived from target values defined by the surgeon, surgical convention, or computer simulation of the same procedure prior to the operation itself.

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Houston, TX, United States of America

Michael Conditt