Cables in the operating room could soon be a thing of the past. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI, together with partners in the OWIMED project, have developed an endoscope that transmits images and data by light (LiFi technology) instead of via cable. The prototype was designed for laparoscopic procedures (laparoscopy) and has already been successfully tested in a real operating room environment.

Instead of the usual two cable connections for light, power and data transmission, the new system integrates an LED light source and a battery-powered LiFi module directly into the endoscope. The images are sent optically to modules on the surgical light and from there transmitted to the monitor in 4K quality. The connection is bidirectional, so control commands can also be sent from the monitor to the endoscope.

The advantages are manifold: without a tangle of cables, the procedure runs more smoothly, medical equipment is easier to clean and disinfect, and the risk of infection is reduced. LiFi technology uses modulated LED light that is invisible to the human eye and meets the high requirements of medical technology for reliability, safety and low latency.

The OWIMED project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space as part of “KMU-innovativ”. In addition to Fraunhofer HHI, the partners are IT Concepts GmbH (endoscope development) and the St. Joseph Hospital Berlin-Tempelhof, whose surgical team intensively tested the prototype in a surgical simulator. The feedback was consistently positive: the doctors would prefer the wireless system to the wired version.

Dr. Anagnostis Paraskevopoulos, project manager at Fraunhofer HHI, explained that the localized light propagation makes the technology particularly suitable for the sensitive operating room area. The compact design of the LiFi modules ensures a robust and fast data connection.

The project will run from February 2023 to April 2026. The researchers now want to further develop the technology and prepare it for broader use in medical technology. In the long term, optical wireless communication could make not only endoscopes wireless, but also other imaging devices in the operating room.

Editor: X-Press Journalistenbüro GbR

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