title: Cardiac ultrasonography over 4G wireless networks using a tele-operated robot.
abstract: This Letter proposes an end-to-end mobile tele-echography platform using a portable robot for remote cardiac ultrasonography. Performance evaluation investigates the capacity of long-term evolution (LTE) wireless networks to facilitate responsive robot tele-manipulation and real-time ultrasound video streaming that qualifies for clinical practice. Within this context, a thorough video coding standards comparison for cardiac ultrasound applications is performed, using a data set of ten ultrasound videos. Both objective and subjective (clinical) video quality assessment demonstrate that H.264/AVC and high efficiency video coding standards can achieve diagnostically-lossless video quality at bitrates well within the LTE supported data rates. Most importantly, reduced latencies experienced throughout the live tele-echography sessions allow the medical expert to remotely operate the robot in a responsive manner, using the wirelessly communicated cardiac ultrasound video to reach a diagnosis. Based on preliminary results documented in this Letter, the proposed robotised tele-echography platform can provide for reliable, remote diagnosis, achieving comparable quality of experience levels with in-hospital ultrasound examinations.
authors.affiliation: Nursing Department , School of Health and Science , Cyprus University of Technology , Cyprus.
authors.forename: Sotiris
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Avgousti
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College, London, UK; Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus, 75 Kalipoleos Str., P.O. Box 20537, Nicosia, Cyprus.
authors.forename: Andreas S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Panayides
authors.affiliation: 'PAEDI' Center for Specialized Pediatrics , 20 Athalassis Ave Strovolos, Nicosia , Cyprus.
authors.forename: Antonis P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Jossif
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , University of Cyprus , 75 Kalipoleos Str., P.O. Box 20537, Nicosia , Cyprus.
authors.forename: Eftychios G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Christoforou
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire PRISME , Universite d'Orleans , 63 avenue de Lattre de Tassigny, Bourges , France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vieyres
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire PRISME , Universite d'Orleans , 63 avenue de Lattre de Tassigny, Bourges , France.
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Novales
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Informatics , Cyprus University of Technology , 30 Archbishop Kyprianou Str., Lemesos , Cyprus.
authors.forename: Sotos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Voskarides
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science , University of Cyprus , 75 Kalipoleos Str., P.O. Box 20537 , Nicosia , Cyprus.
authors.forename: Constantinos S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Pattichis
keywords: 4G wireless networks; LTE wireless networks; Long Term Evolution; biomedical ultrasonics; cardiac ultrasound video; cardiology; end-to-end mobile teleechography platform; in-hospital ultrasound examination; long-term evolution; medical robotics; portable robot; real-time ultrasound video streaming; remote cardiac ultrasonography; remote diagnosis; responsive robot telemanipulation; robotised teleechography platform; teleechography sessions; telemedicine; teleoperated robot; video coding standards; video quality