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Electromagnetic Tracking Technology
NDI’s Aurora® and 3D Guidance® electromagnetic (EM) tracking solutions generate a defined EM field in which EM micro-sensors are tracked without requiring a line of sight. Our EM technology can help minimize the need for intraoperative fluoroscopy, while benefitting procedure workflow and efficacy.
Electromagnetic Tracking Technology
NDI’s Aurora® and 3D Guidance® electromagnetic (EM) tracking solutions technology generate a defined EM field in which EM micro-sensors are tracked requiring no line of sight. Our EM technology minimizes the need for intraoperative fluoroscopy, while benefitting procedure time, safety, and efficacy.
Why Choose Electromagnetic Tracking?
The Aurora electromagnetic tracking system provides unobstructed tracking of sensors that can be embedded into rigid and flexible OEM medical instruments such as ultrasound probes, endoscopes, catheters, guidewires – even at the tip of a needle. No line-of-sight is needed, which supports deep in-vivo tracking of instruments through anatomical tracts that are difficult to view and/or access. Multiple instruments can be tracked simultaneously without interrupting the procedural workflow.
When integrated as a component into the workflow of image-guided surgery or interventional systems, the Aurora acts as the link between patient image sets and 3D space, enabling the instruments’ positions and orientations to be instantly localized and visualized within the operative field. It does so with the exceptional speed, accuracy, and precision required by today’s most demanding interventional approaches.
By continuously tracking OEM instrument positions, EM tracking can be used by the medical device OEM system to reduce intraoperative fluoroscopy, supporting improved procedural times, efficacy, and safety.
Principles of Operation
The Aurora® and 3D Guidance® electromagnetic (EM) tracking solutions work by generating a defined EM field in which EM micro-sensors are tracked. It’s the small size of these sensors, and how they can be used in minimally invasive approaches, that have helped medical device OEMs transform image-guided surgery and interventional procedures over the past decade.
Sensors can be embedded into OEM medical instruments such as catheters, endoscopes, guidewires, and needle tips. Using the sensors’ tracking data, the OEM image-guided surgery system can localize and visualize the instrument as it’s navigated through anatomical tracts to target and reach treatment areas. Smaller sensors allow smaller instruments to access hard-to-reach areas and for use during delicate or complex surgical procedures. No line of sight is needed for tracking to occur.
With NDI’s EM tracking solutions, you can track in-vivo instruments confidently with accuracy and precision.
Continuous electromagnetic tracking of OEM instruments and/or patient positions can also minimize the need for intraoperative fluoroscopy, which can benefit procedure time, safety, and efficacy.
1. Sensors can be embedded into an OEM medical instrument, where they serve as localization points for the instrument in 3D space.
2. The Field Generator emits a low-intensity, varying EM field that establishes the measurement volume.
3. Small currents are induced inside the sensors when they enter the EM field.
4. These currents are relayed to the Sensor Interface Unit (SIU), where they’re amplified and digitized as signals.
5. The signals are transmitted to the System Control Unit (SCU), which calculates each sensor’s position and orientation as a transformation.
6. Tracking data are communicated to the OEM host application interface for real-time navigation of instruments relative to patient image sets.
Navigate New Possibilities
NDI stays the course with our partners, ensuring that they get to market faster. We understand that system design is only one piece of your complex path to market. Through our dedicated account management, integration, and technical support teams, we invest in all stages of the product development life cycle-from initial concept creation, through the subsystem design, cost, performance optimization stage, and finally to the critically important high-volume factory calibration process.
EM Products
NDI’s Aurora and 3D Guidance electromagnetic (EM) tracking solutions technology generate a defined EM field in which EM micro-sensors are tracked requiring no line of sight.
Integration
NDI’s optical measurement and electromagnetic tracking solutions can be tailored to your unique tracking application through diverse customization and integration options.
Resources
Learn more about NDI’s optical measurement and electromagnetic tracking solutions through our collection of videos, articles and datasheets. Navigate the possibilities for your unique OEM surgical instrument.
Legal Disclaimer
NDI tracking and measurement products are general metrology components that can be integrated into customer products, research experiments, and/or as components of medical devices that require precision measurement and tracking. While NDI components and technology can be integrated into original equipment manufacturer (OEM) medical devices, they are not specifically intended for a given application and, as such, have not been developed or manufactured in accordance with medical device standards. It remains the responsibility of the OEM customer or end-user to determine and test the suitability of NDI components and technology for their intended use, including performing any required ethics approval, verification, and validation required to demonstrate suitability and compliance. System-level testing, certification, and validation are the responsibility of the original equipment manufacturer or the applicable end-user and should be completed prior to the use of NDI products or technologies in any application.