Pathfinder Shape Sensing Platform
An advanced shape sensing platform that reconstructs and displays the entire shape of a thin, flexible optical fiber. TSSC positions it for integration into medical devices, giving robots and surgeons feedback on tool location without radiative imaging.
Technical overview
Pathfinder is a desktop interrogation unit that monitors a single 3D shape sensor and outputs shape either on screen or as an Ethernet stream. TSSC states the product line is built on Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) rather than discrete FBG/WDM sensing, giving more than eight thousand measurements along a 1.25 m 3D shape sensor at 150 micron resolution. It supports tortuous paths, twist and 6 degrees of freedom over more than 1 metre of sensing length, and compensates shape measurements for temperature automatically.
Features
- Monitors a single 3D shape sensor
- Minimum 60 frames per second refresh rate
- Maximum 30ms hardware latency
- Desktop unit can be used in laboratory environment
- Displays shape in real time on a screen or streams via Ethernet
- Shape measurements are automatically compensated for changes in temperature
- Supports tortuous paths, 6 degrees of freedom, twist and more than 1 meter sensing length
- Measures 3D shape, twist, bending direction and bending radius, strain, temperature, force (haptic feedback) and pressure
Specifications
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Refresh rate | 60 frames per second (minimum) |
| Hardware latency | 30 ms (maximum) |
| Sensing length | >1 m |
| Degrees of freedom | 6 DOF |
| Shape sensors supported per unit | 1 3D shape sensor |
| Temperature compensation | Automatic |
| Output / interface | Real-time on-screen display or Ethernet streaming |
| Measurands | 3D shape; twist; bending direction and bending radius; strain; temperature; force (haptic feedback); pressure |
| Measurement points along sensor | >8000 measurements (along a 1.25 m 3D shape sensor) |
| Spatial resolution along sensor | 150 micron |
| Reference 3D shape sensor length | 1.25 m |
| Sensing technology | Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) |
| Optical wavelength range | — |
| Shape / positional accuracy | — |
| Physical dimensions / weight / power | — |
Applications
- Minimally invasive and robotic-assisted surgery
- Surgical tool navigation and guidance without radiative imaging
- Robotic control feedback and closed-loop control
- Catheter, guidewire and endoscope tracking through tortuous anatomy
- Aerospace and defence
- Civil engineering and energy
- Mining
- Environments where line of sight is not available
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