3D Full HD Broadcast from a Robotic Surgery

Experts from CESNET and the Masaryk Hospital in Ústí nad Labem, on Thursday 10 June, performed a unique real-time 3D Full HD stereo broadcast of a kidney surgery performed by a da Vinci robot.

Images from the surgery travelled from the surgery room at the Hospital to the Prague CESNET headquarters. The online broadcast was conducted over a 10 gigabit link, which is a part of the standard infrastructure of the national research network CESNET2. During the broadcast, the data stream reached transfer speeds of approximately 2.5 Gbps and the signal delay along the transmission stream was less than 1 ms, enabling a truly real-time broadcast.

The special broadcast equipment was developed by CESNET as a part of its research project Optical National Research Network and its New Applications. The data transferred was screened by a F10 AS3D ProjectionDesign stereo-projector, acquired by CESNET for purposes of similar experiments. The solution applied is capable of transmitting up to four 3D HD video signals in either direction.

The successful transmission of 3D Full HD video demonstrated the possibilities afforded by this technology to surgeries directly as well as education of both medical professionals and students.

Photo documentation from the broadcast: http://www.cesnet.cz/new/2010/3Dprenos/

More about the da Vinci robot: http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BI108/BI108_2005_Groups/04/davinci.html

The CESNET Association was founded by Czech universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The association is currently financed mainly from the resources of the governmental Research and Development Board and funds of the association members. The association undertakes research and development in the field of information and communication technologies, and develops a national multi-gigabit optical network CESNET2, designed for research and educational purposes. With respect to its research activities and accomplishments, CESNET represents the Czech Republic in the development of the pan-European network GÉANT and participates actively in the project implementation. Among other things it deals with the use of high-speed networks for sharing multimedia data both through synchronous video conferencing and shared applications and through asynchronous streaming.