X-Ray Fans only: Latest arrivals in Fraser's lab - Large Wi-Fi X-Ray plates :)

[Muttley Snickers]

After suffering for a long period of time with chronic fatigue issues and literally at the end of my tether I was recently diagnosed as having heart disease and likely a number of heart attacks along the way, none of which gave the regular symptoms of angina or associated chest pain which was a bit of a mystery for the cardiologists, anyway on Monday just gone they ran me through this big arse Philips Gamma Imaging Machine the results of which will be provided in a meeting with the head of cardiology scheduled for tomorrow morning.

A serious machine operated by some wonderful staff and I got a look from the inside three successive times in fact so beat that.   

[tautech]

Thanks for the update Muttley, thinking of you buddy, hope it all comes out the best for you.
Bugger of a place to be in at anytime but if you're crook that's where you need to be to get well again.

[Fraser]

Sorry to hear this Muttley. Hope they get the diagnosis sorted and an effective treatment plan in place for it.

On the topic of hospital equipment...... I have spent my fair share of time in hospital and the staff are always highly amused that I am so interested in looking at the equipment surrounding me and wanting to watch it 'in action'.

Some people hate the MRI machine because it is quite enclosed and 'booms' when operating....... I love it ...... listening to the different frequencies as it carries out the scans. I think I must be a bit odd At my last MRI, just as the scan was about to start, I noticed a tube was disconnected from the acoustic communications interface. The nurses were surprised I had noticed it but fortunate that I did as that was the control room communication line to me to tell me to stop breathing during the scan.

I had an endoscope inside me once and, though sedated, I still managed to ask the doctor for a printed picture of the investigation site . He kindly obliged and even described what the picture was showing. The nurses were laughing as most patients are more concerned that there is something wriggling around inside them and the last thing they want to do is see what the endoscope is seeing

Fraser

[Muttley Snickers]

Thanks very much tautech  , I've been so flat out  each day running back and forth between different hospitals, the silly GP    various blood tests, cardiac rehabilitation programs and associated specialists that I haven't been able to spend any time on the computer at all but hope to return soon with a whole new perspective.    

I'm in a better place now than I was 10 weeks ago as you well know and with exercise  , diet  , mental state  and a few other  things all being seriously addressed and with the caring assistance of some wonderful people I'm really looking forward to this second chance    . I gave my word early in the peace that the effort they the doctors and nursing staff went to whilst I was in trouble won't go wasted and I will now make every possible effort to stick around, you buggers will just have to suffer a bit longer.   

[Gyro]

Likewise Muttley, best wishes. The main thing is that you have a diagnosis, you're bound to be better under treatment and monitoring that you were, wondering around, ticking!

Some people hate the MRI machine because it is quite enclosed and 'booms' when operating....... I love it ...... listening to the different frequencies as it carries out the scans. I think I must be a bit odd

No you're not alone, me too! There's something quite 'cosetting' about being enclosed in a nice warm tube, listening to all the scan patterns, some of them are quite hypnotic (although there's one particularly deep one on mine that shakes the table). The only problem I have is the pressure of the sensor coil on the tip of my nose (big nose!), but once you get used to looking through the plastic mirror rather than going cross-eyed it's fine. They've just upped their noise protection policy at my hospital - now you get ear plugs aswell as the piped headphones.

I always buy a copy of the scans on CD, nice to see the pretty pictures ahead of the consultant appointments and the individual scans show the TR, TE etc. parameters that you can relate with the sound effects.


P.S. You want to try cystoscopy. Once you get past the 'cross legs and clench' urge as the three eyed snake (RGB) approaches your tender parts you get to see some very pretty high res pictures without being hampered by the sedation. . Having had both, I much prefer the cystoscopies!

[TerraHertz]

Good luck Mutley, hope your problems can be completely fixed.

Gyro: "I always buy a copy of the scans on CD, nice to see the pretty pictures ahead of the consultant appointments"
Interesting that you have to buy them. Here in Oz (and Philippines) all images and videos are always given to the patient. That's been my experience anyway, except one instance where it turned out the doctor was deliberately avoiding me having the images, for reasons to do with a malpractice drama.

Cystoscopies are interesting. During one (in Philippines, again related to the malpractice stuff) lying there watching the video (which I have on CD) I had fun by teasing the theater assistants. Long time ago I played around a bit with bio-feedback. Learned to consciously change my heart rate. So, in the theater I ramped it up without warning them, had a laugh at their panic, then showed them I could wind it up and down at will.

Fraser, I too enjoy MRIs. I couldn't relate the different scan sounds to the various imaging modes since I have no feedback of what they are doing at any moment. But it's an interesting sound, and the confined tube doesn't bother me. Nothing as tight as some places I've been caving.  After one MRI the operator asked me how I was feeling. "Very precessed." He laughed.

[Cerebus]

After suffering for a long period of time with chronic fatigue issues and literally at the end of my tether I was recently diagnosed as having heart disease and likely a number of heart attacks along the way...

Sorry to hear that mate, best of luck.

It's probably all the stress of dealing with that Dastardly chap, I'd give him a miss in future if I was you.  See if you can get the nurses to give you a rmedal.

[Gyro]

Gyro: "I always buy a copy of the scans on CD, nice to see the pretty pictures ahead of the consultant appointments"
Interesting that you have to buy them. Here in Oz (and Philippines) all images and videos are always given to the patient. That's been my experience anyway, except one instance where it turned out the doctor was deliberately avoiding me having the images, for reasons to do with a malpractice drama.

Nope, you have to pay for them under the NHS, you get them 'free' if you go private. It's a fixed price though, so you can get every X-ray, MRI, CT etc that you've ever had on however many CDs for the same price. Of course I take the 'sucker' approach of buying the latest MRI each time, which is about half a CD's worth. I don't mind though - it's a bit of extra cash towards the hospital funds in exchange for 5 minutes work by the IT office.


P.S. Quite a lot of the time the situation would be getting the scan done using NHS hospital facilties for referral to a private consultant, in which case the insurance company would pick up the bill anyway. It's only us 'health nerds' who actually pay the cost.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Inside the  Samsung panel, after peeling label and removing 60 screws
Area top-left with wifi module was accessible via small panel under label - also has MicroSD socket,a couple of buttons and a fine-pitch connector.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Couple more pics.
Has ethernet magnetics so clearly a hardwired ethernet port on the 17 pin docking connector to try poking at.
Main FPGA is Spartan 6SLX45
Main CPU is TI AM335Z Sitara,
ADCs are AD9240A 14 bit, 10MSPS

Also what I thought were glass pet type RFID tags, but I think shock sensors, visible through slots in the rear panel.
I suspect red is bad..

[SeanB]

Looks like each one was an hour's production from Kemet in tantalum caps though, they really wanted low ripple on the supply lines there.

[yada]

How much engineering do you have to know before you can even attempt tackling getting the images off those assuming they still work? Could a four year ee graduate do it? I often take on projects where I find out, oh this easy or there is no way in hell I'm going to figure this out. Makes for a lot of spare parts I'll never use. I'm still trying to find that in between state, but its like science articles on the internet: they are so dumbed down you learn nothing or its a 40 page dissertation with math that goes way over my head. Where are the articles for moderately smart people?

[mikeselectricstuff]

It depends. Maybe some poking the ethernet might get a response.
One thought was that if these are set up to switch on and take an image (triggered by x-ray detection) without having previously talked to anything to 'arm' it, then it might be feasible to tap off the datastream from the ADCs as they read the data into internal memory.
Maybe it saves files to the internal RAM of Flash that are read out with some standard protocol.
There may also be some sort of test interface over telnet etc.
And I bet there's a UART on the accessible connector.

Wishful thinking maybe, but plausible I think.

[bktemp]

It looks like the wifi module is connected via usb. Maybe the main cpu is running linux.
There is probably a uart connected to some testpads, or even a debugging connector with access to the linux shell.

[Fraser]

Mike,

Excellent. I am pleased you found your way into the Samsung.

Of the two makes of plate, I preferred the Canon type.

Regarding the red glass vials. it might be worth X-Ray imaging them

DR plates are often registered onto the host PC using some sort of ID reader. The Canon plates use IRDA for this, Samsung may have used RFID. those vials certainly look like the RFID tags I have used in the past.

from memory all of the plates were wired or Wireless in order to meet a customers needs. They could be read over Wi-Fi or via a docking station under the PC.

Fraser

[yada]

Couple more pics.
Has ethernet magnetics so clearly a hardwired ethernet port on the 17 pin docking connector to try poking at.
Main FPGA is Spartan 6SLX45
Main CPU is TI AM335Z Sitara,
ADCs are AD9240A 14 bit, 10MSPS

Also what I thought were glass pet type RFID tags, but I think shock sensors, visible through slots in the rear panel.
I suspect red is bad..

A new tear down video? Kapton tape!

[mikeselectricstuff]

DR plates are often registered onto the host PC using some sort of ID reader. The Canon plates use IRDA for this, Samsung may have used RFID. those vials certainly look like the RFID tags I have used in the past.

They are definitely shock indicators.  All 4 red on one, 2 of 4 in the other.

Just put some charge in the battery, and "Power" and "busy" light for about 10 secs (e.g. small linux boot time), then busy goes out.
I would expect that if it was not in a state to start an x-ray, there would be some clear visible indication.
Thinking more about it - you never want to x-ray someone more than necessary, so I can't see any reason why it would not always take and store an image if x-rays are detected - you wouldn't want to have to re-expose the patient if teh operator forgot to set up the plate.
Too tired to play ATM, and probably too busy for the next few days.

What was disappointing was the lack of an obvious seperate x-ray sensor that coule be used to fake triggering, tough I wouldn't be surprised if one of thise buttons does it for testing. I've not had the PCBs out yet - could be a photodiode on the underside.
 


 

[Gyro]

The last time I saw those Shockguards was on removable disk platters. 

Edit: Oops, it was 'ShockWatch', not Shockguard. http://shockwatch.com/products/impact-and-tilt/impact-indicators.

[Fraser]

@Mike,

Damn, with those shock detectors indicating red I suppose the warranty on the imaging array is void 

But seriously, these plates endure quite a rough life so I am surprised that there are shock sensors needed. The plate should be adequately buffered to protect it. Sounds like a manufacturer keen to have a reason to refuse warranty service ! IIRC the smaller plates cost £10K and the larger ones, a lot more. Imagine breaking one that you had bought with your own hard earned money (people like VET's also use them)

Many OEMs of these plates sell the end user a support contract at great annual cost. I can now see why the end users have to cough up that money as these plates are a serious investment and you do not want the OEM declining service due to 'abuse' by your staff.

I hope these plates give you some enjoyment Mike. They were way too large for my needs and hacking them to operate is beyond my skill set. It would be great if you could source the PC software for the Canon plates, or even an engineering test software. Worth contacting Canon ? From what I understand, the PC just connects to the plate via Wi-Fi and whenever an X-Ray is taken, it parcels the image up and sends it automatically. If another download of the data is needed it may be requested.

It may well be a FIFO system where a new exposure pushes the old one out of the memory ?

By the way, I am impressed with the image coming out of the Fire FLIR camera. Love it. It has gone to a good home with me
Thank you for your kindness and generosity today.

All the Best

Fraser

[Gumbysauce]

Any one know what the imaging array is made with? I feel like I read somewhere that some are being built with organic semiconductors.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Any one know what the imaging array is made with? I feel like I read somewhere that some are being built with organic semiconductors.

My understanding is they are very similar to TFT LCD panels, with photodiodes and switching transistors integrated onto the glass.

[TheSteve]

This is no time to sleep Mike - get reverse engineering on them.

[rickells]

New thread on Newer BiOptics Bio Vision BioVision Faxitron units  ca. ~ 2009 - 2015

See:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/faxitron-biovisionbioptics-win7-(pci-resource-issue)/new/#new