New Device Acts Like Primitive Medical Tricorder

Researchers at Georgia Tech's Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) have developed a palm sized device, which resembles the Star Trek "Tricoder". The device is capable of creating an image and characterizing sub skin tissues. The device was developed in the framework of a project aimed at designing a portable bruise and erythema (redness of the skin caused by capillary congestion) detection technology. By simply holding the device above the patient’s skin, a subsurface image of the tissue is produced.

To create the image, the device uses a narrowband filter mosaic - a mosaic of tiny color filters placed over the pixel sensors of an image sensor to capture color information. The photosensitive pixel sensors observe different wavelengths (including non visible light, such as infrared), enabling characterization of the subsurface tissue. Images taken at different light wavelengths are combined to make composite images, with each wavelength displayed by a different color in the final image. Although this technique, named "multispectral imaging", is common in many fields, including in the creation of satellite images of Earth, it is the first time this technology is being used in the medical field.