- Honda unveils a new hybrid...
- but let's hope it's loud enough...
- except for the airbags, of course.
9/12/2008
This week's random hits
9/05/2008
Using proton beams to treat cancer
Earlier today, CERN's Large Hadron Collider fired its first protons around a 27 kilometer tunnel. The news got me thinking of a QNX-based system that also fires protons — not to unlock the secrets of the universe, as in the case of the CERN collider, but to address a far more immediate problem: cancer.
To treat cancer, doctors have long depended on various forms of radiotherapy. While often effective, these techniques can damage healthy, cancer-free tissues that are located near or behind the tumor.
Enter proton therapy. Using this approach, a radiotherapist can precisely restrict cell damage to where the tumor is located, even if the tumor resides deep within the body. The radiotherapist can even "bend" the proton beam into the same shape as the tumor. This accuracy makes proton therapy useful for treating tumors located near vital organs. It can also reduce long-term effects sometimes associated with conventional forms of radiotherapy, particularly in children.
Mind you, there is a drawback: the equipment required to deliver proton therapy typically weighs hundreds of tons. Still, a growing number of proton therapy centers are opening in North America, Europe, and Asia.
One such center is the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI). Their proton therapy system (PTS), designed by Indiana University, consists of four main subsystems: beam delivery, dose delivery, patient positioning, and treatment control.
The dose delivery subsystem (DDS), which represents the business end of the PTS, runs on the QNX RTOS. It controls devices on the end nozzle and ensures that the patient receives the correct radiation dose. In fact, the DDS is responsible for performing several operations, such as manipulating the magnet controller, recording data from the nozzle’s beam detectors, and monitoring beam properties.
For more information on the PTS architecture, read this whitepaper.
For more information on proton therapy, check out this wikipedia article.
To treat cancer, doctors have long depended on various forms of radiotherapy. While often effective, these techniques can damage healthy, cancer-free tissues that are located near or behind the tumor.
Enter proton therapy. Using this approach, a radiotherapist can precisely restrict cell damage to where the tumor is located, even if the tumor resides deep within the body. The radiotherapist can even "bend" the proton beam into the same shape as the tumor. This accuracy makes proton therapy useful for treating tumors located near vital organs. It can also reduce long-term effects sometimes associated with conventional forms of radiotherapy, particularly in children.Mind you, there is a drawback: the equipment required to deliver proton therapy typically weighs hundreds of tons. Still, a growing number of proton therapy centers are opening in North America, Europe, and Asia.
One such center is the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI). Their proton therapy system (PTS), designed by Indiana University, consists of four main subsystems: beam delivery, dose delivery, patient positioning, and treatment control.
The dose delivery subsystem (DDS), which represents the business end of the PTS, runs on the QNX RTOS. It controls devices on the end nozzle and ensures that the patient receives the correct radiation dose. In fact, the DDS is responsible for performing several operations, such as manipulating the magnet controller, recording data from the nozzle’s beam detectors, and monitoring beam properties.
For more information on the PTS architecture, read this whitepaper.
For more information on proton therapy, check out this wikipedia article.
QNX gets Elektra-fied
Last week, I told you that a QNX-based media server took home an EISA Best Product award. At the risk of turning this blog into a trophy case, allow me to mention that QNX Software Systems has also been shortlisted for a 2008 Elektra award.
No, not this Electra:
And not this Elektra, either:
Rather, this Elektra:
Okay, so it isn't the sexiest Elektra. But it does honor hi-tech companies that make a difference. This year, the Elektra judges have chosen the QNX Aviage Acoustic Processing Suite as a finalist in the Embedded Systems category.
If you've never heard of QNX Aviage, it's a software library that eliminates the dedicated hardware typically used to reduce noise and echo in automotive hands-free systems. By reducing hardware costs, QNX Aviage allows more cars to ship with handsfree systems as standard equipment. And that means more people who insist on driving with a coffee cup in one hand and a cellphone in the other can now keep one hand on the wheel. The benefits of this cannot be underestimated.
Winners of the Elektra awards will be announced November 10, at the Electronica conference in Munich. For the complete list of Elektra finalists, click here.
No, not this Electra:
And not this Elektra, either:
Rather, this Elektra:
Okay, so it isn't the sexiest Elektra. But it does honor hi-tech companies that make a difference. This year, the Elektra judges have chosen the QNX Aviage Acoustic Processing Suite as a finalist in the Embedded Systems category.
If you've never heard of QNX Aviage, it's a software library that eliminates the dedicated hardware typically used to reduce noise and echo in automotive hands-free systems. By reducing hardware costs, QNX Aviage allows more cars to ship with handsfree systems as standard equipment. And that means more people who insist on driving with a coffee cup in one hand and a cellphone in the other can now keep one hand on the wheel. The benefits of this cannot be underestimated.
Winners of the Elektra awards will be announced November 10, at the Electronica conference in Munich. For the complete list of Elektra finalists, click here.
9/03/2008
This week's random hits
- A self-erecting double inverted Furuta pendulum
- Another self-erecting double inverted Furuta pendulum
- Lost your GPS device? Instead of having a cow, look for one.
QNX-based media server takes home EISA award
I know that it may come as a shock, but often, judges hand out industry awards without laying their hands on a single product. They simply review the written award submissions and dole out prizes based on what they’ve read.The European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) takes a different approach. It insists that the products submitted for its annual awards are made available for detailed, hands-on evaluation. And this year, the evaluation process resulted in an EISA Best Product award for the QNX-based Harman Kardon DMC 1000 media server.
Equipped with a 250GB internal hard drive, the DMC 1000 can digitize and catalogue more than 60,000 songs. It comes with USB jacks and memory-card slots, so you can quickly stock up the hard drive with music, movies, and photos from all your personal devices: iPods, cell phones, digital cameras, camcorders, thumb drives, etc. Other features include a 1080p upscaling DVD player and the ability to distribute 4 audio streams throughout your home.I’m in the process of digitizing analog tapes that I recorded almost 30 years ago. If someone told me in 1980 that I would eventually digitize this material and play it on a home media server or handheld MP3 player, I’d have stared at them as if they had 3 heads. (A tape deck with 3 heads, on the other hand, I would have gladly welcomed.) Things have changed since then, and thank goodness for that: I'll take a single, sleek DMC 1000 over a wall of cassettes any day.
For more info on the DMC 1000, check out the Design News article, "New Media Center Stops Blue Screen of Death."
8/14/2008
This week's random hits
- Holy differential girdle springs, Batman —
it’s a Rockwell Retro Encabulator! (thanks AZ) - Literary Classics: The PowerPoint Edition (thanks JM)
- QNX keeps the gas flowing in East Java
8/10/2008
Neither too wet nor too dry
Measuring microwaves to keep things just right
Biking to work on a gravel road has given me a new appreciation of moisture. If the road becomes too wet, I get coated with mud. Too dry, and I get coated with dust.
Either way, it’s a minor inconvenience. But for companies that handle coal, iron ore, and other minerals, managing moisture is serious business. If the ore becomes too dry, it releases dust that can threaten the health of miners and of people living in nearby communities. In fact, coal dust and iron-ore dust both contribute to a variety of respiratory diseases, including cancer.
The solution is simple: moisten the ore to keep the dust in check. But how much moisture? Add too little, and you haven't solved the problem. Add too much, and the ore:
sticks to container surfaces and becomes hard to handle
becomes heavier and thus more expensive to ship
can shift suddenly during shipment, with potentially disastrous
wastes water that, in many mining areas, is in scarce supply
Enter an Australian company called Intalysis Pty Ltd (now Thermo Scientific). They have developed QNX-based, low-frequency microwave (LFM) analyzers that continuously measure the moisture content of ore as it moves along conveyer belts. Using this information, a mining company can add just the right amount of moisture to keep its ore both safe and easy to handle.
The basic premise is simple: When microwaves hit moist materials, they slow down and weaken. By measuring this attentuation, the system can calculate the ore’s moisture content. There are, of course, challenges, such as ensuring accurate measurements when using fast, high-capacity conveyors.
To help address these issues, the designers of the LFM3 analyzer chose the QNX Neutrino OS, which supports both the fast data-acquisition rates and high uptimes needed by this application.
For more information on the LFM3, click here.
Biking to work on a gravel road has given me a new appreciation of moisture. If the road becomes too wet, I get coated with mud. Too dry, and I get coated with dust.Either way, it’s a minor inconvenience. But for companies that handle coal, iron ore, and other minerals, managing moisture is serious business. If the ore becomes too dry, it releases dust that can threaten the health of miners and of people living in nearby communities. In fact, coal dust and iron-ore dust both contribute to a variety of respiratory diseases, including cancer.
The solution is simple: moisten the ore to keep the dust in check. But how much moisture? Add too little, and you haven't solved the problem. Add too much, and the ore:
Enter an Australian company called Intalysis Pty Ltd (now Thermo Scientific). They have developed QNX-based, low-frequency microwave (LFM) analyzers that continuously measure the moisture content of ore as it moves along conveyer belts. Using this information, a mining company can add just the right amount of moisture to keep its ore both safe and easy to handle.
The basic premise is simple: When microwaves hit moist materials, they slow down and weaken. By measuring this attentuation, the system can calculate the ore’s moisture content. There are, of course, challenges, such as ensuring accurate measurements when using fast, high-capacity conveyors.
To help address these issues, the designers of the LFM3 analyzer chose the QNX Neutrino OS, which supports both the fast data-acquisition rates and high uptimes needed by this application.
For more information on the LFM3, click here.
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