Hello All!

I am a paramedic and want to further and extend my knowledge in electrical engineering in an informal way so as to make advances in the equipment we use in the field. I have some great ideas for equipment prototypes and want to put them to use. I don't really want to go back to school for electrical engineering so I am hoping the users here can point me in the right direction.

I digress

I am designing my own version of the GlideScope with a few minor changes in ergonomics and the addition of wireless video. I would like my circuitry designs to mimic that of the Ar.Drone. It has two on board cameras and creates it's own wifi network to transmit the video to an iphone via an objective-c application. I would like to have a wireless version of the Glidescope that will also record and store the video of successful larygoscopy.

My questions are:

1.) Where do i start on finding out how to put a circuit like this together?
2.) I am having trouble locating any info on embedded cameras and corresponding circuitry through google. What keywords and search phrases should I should to ascertain this info.
3.) I am basically having trouble on where to start. I have the brains just no knowledge, any help to point me in the right direction would be great to get started.
4.) What products will benefit me? Development board? Microcontroller? Cameras? Etc.

The impetus for this project was an unsuccessful intubation on a small child due to an anaphylactic reaction. Having an instrument such as this would improve our chances of saving lives like these 10 fold. The current instruments on the market are too expensive to be realized by rural EMS where they are needed the most and I would like to design and make available such equipment. Please do not flame me I am only looking for direction. I understand I am ignorant at this point. Any help would be amazing. Thank you.

 

I am not sure where you are headed with the glideslope stuff, but camera information may be found by looking for CCD imaging sensor or CMOS imaging sensor. This is probably a good place to start on the electronics required as the timing and signaling from the imaging sensor will drive many of the design choices. The raw data from the imaging sensor is too high to send, so it is either converted to MJPEG or MPEG data streams. You can search for those compression types. There are development boards from a few manufacturers which are pretty expensive. Lattice has one for instance. I think their board uses one of their FPGA's to realize one of the compression methods. It would be a good place to look and download the documentation to understand what is involved.

Beyond that the WiFi is another step in tying the data streams to your local network. Many micro/IC manufacturers offer WiFi chips or modules are available from many third party suppliers.

You would do well to start with the imaging piece first and try to understand its complexity and timing constraints.

 

I am not sure where you are headed with the glideslope stuff, .

First off, thank you very much for your help.

What is it that you aren't sure of about the GlideScope?

Basically I want a wireless version of the GlideScope that is shaped distinctly different for use in the field. I want to be able to do wireless video laryngoscopy.

 

I'm thinking you are looking for pure video. Glideslope from a plane's perspective is related to the horizon and landing approach. Video as in laporoscopy provides a veiw on a small scale to guide the instruments to their approiate position to accomplish the work at hand. Glideslope is tied to a gyro respective to the angle to ground level, I don't see where that is relative to a patient. As each person is a little different, I can see the video being useful, but not the actual angle of the insertion instrument. The video as I understand it should be the guiding course. Is this correct?

Aside from that, are you finding what you were looking to discover from the information I provided? Video is not difficult to conceptionalize, but the details are intricate and not on the beginner level. Not to take away from your capabilities, but I could not walk up to a patient on a table and perform open heart surgery. There is a learning curve of many concepts and hardware to utilize video on the individual parts and hardware basis. I hope you are finding a good starting point.

 

I'm thinking you are looking for pure video. Glideslope from a plane's perspective is related to the horizon and landing approach. Video as in laporoscopy provides a veiw on a small scale to guide the instruments to their approiate position to accomplish the work at hand. Glideslope is tied to a gyro respective to the angle to ground level, I don't see where that is relative to a patient. As each person is a little different, I can see the video being useful, but not the actual angle of the insertion instrument. The video as I understand it should be the guiding course. Is this correct?

Aside from that, are you finding what you were looking to discover from the information I provided? Video is not difficult to conceptionalize, but the details are intricate and not on the beginner level. Not to take away from your capabilities, but I could not walk up to a patient on a table and perform open heart surgery. There is a learning curve of many concepts and hardware to utilize video on the individual parts and hardware basis. I hope you are finding a good starting point.

Yes actually I am beginning to see the light. It's going to take some work and I think I am going to go ahead and further my education formally via the School of Engineering at University of Arkansas in electrical engineering.

You are correct in that the video is the guiding course during laryngoscopy. However there is some anatomy that must be moved out of the way even to view the cords with a camera. This is where the angle of approach is critical. the tip of the blade must fit into the vallecula and secondarily lift the epiglottis to reveal the cords which will then be visualized by the camera.

I see we have had a miscommunication also in that I was speaking of the GlideSCope and not the GlideSLope. Details can be found here. Thank you for your help!!!