SYMBIOM (Synergic inertial microsystems for bio-medical applications)

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The present research program is related to the development of an inertial sensor cluster for navigated surgery, complemented by other intelligent surgery tools. Medical navigation systems are mainly used for monitoring the position of surgical instruments relative to the body of the patient. Present optical navigation systems have a limited applicability (e.g. in neurosurgery), hindered by the high cost and the need of a direct line of sight between the surgical instrument and a video-camera. A micro-inertial measurement unit (IMU) attached to surgical tools or bones can track their position, and improve the global performance. Increased complexity surgical applications will become possible, e.g. bone repositioning in case of facial fractures and osteotomies of craniofacial segments. Several innovative techniques are envisaged, in order to increase the resolution: parametric amplification of mechanical motion, operation in a controlled regime on the stability border, and the use of modern sensing architectures (displacement sensing by optical interferometry or displacement to frequency conversion techniques). The expected performance improvements will widen the application field of computer-assisted surgery (CAS) systems, and complement existing research developments in Canada, focused on other CAS subsystems. In particular, the increased resolution will allow better synchronization with 3D maps of the human body, for automatic or assisted guidance of the tip of surgery instrument inside the patient. Future research will expand the application of these IMUs to medical robotics and intelligent surgery tools. An increased functionality will target active position correction, or cancellation of undesired motion components (e.g. hand-tremor cancellation). This approach will require a more adaptive sensing scheme, with real-time reconfigurable transfer functions.