Does anyone have any actual experience of this kind of application? The methods we have come up with so far are:-
Machine vision, following marks tattooed on the organ as they go through their peristaltic (perhaps) motions. This would require some depth of field to view the marks which are more to the side than in the upper plane.
Machine vision from the inside. Who makes the world's smallest fish-eye lens?
Temperature probes with tiny thermocouples inserted into the muscle. Does the temperature of smooth muscle rise during a contraction, or is the heating up a gross effect related to activity?
Does anyone know of pressure sensors small enough to insert into the muscle of an organ this size?
It is possible to put a little belt around it rather like the device for monitoring a woman's contractions in labor. But again small's the word
Laser distance measurement is another possibility but I don't know the size of the target area and the precision, In our case the area would be in the order of 1mm square with a precision of 0.1mm.
Are there any strain gauges which can be stuck onto tissue like little band-aids?
One of the beauties of this list is that there are people here who each know things that only a small group of others are aware of!
Yours Sincerely John
-- John Brohan National Instruments LabVIEW expert in Montreal Traders Micro "We connect all sorts of things to computers" 317 Barberry Place DDO Montreal PQ Canada H9G 1V3 Tel (514)995-3749 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.TradersMicro.com/Index.htm
