Future medical networks must handle multimedia information transfer (for computer data, audio/video data, and telephony data), and at the same time, provide high bandwidth, high connectivity, and high capacity between medical image acquisition systems, archive systems, and user workstations. Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes a Fiber Optical Multimedia Information Network (FOMIN) that can simultaneously support multiple network standards and/or protocols for medical information and image transmission. As a result, overall network bandwidth and connectivity can be increased significantly. The proposed technique is highly scalable, so users can reconfigure the network module for their specific needs. Our Phase II work will continue the development of the FOMIN system components, including its detailed design, testing, and specifications. A testbed for two practical medical network applications will be constructed and evaluated.
Because of their increased overall data bandwidth and network connectivity, the proposed network modules will be applicable to various medical networks, such as health care delivery systems, health information networks, and electronic patient record databases, and will be useful to many other scientific, environmental, and commercial organizations. It is also expected that the resulting products will address the needs of future local area networks and multimedia networks.
