SonoSite's Titan goes underwater

SonoSite's Titan is taking part in a 10-day underwater experiment with NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 7 Mission. Aquanauts will use the compact ultrasound system to scan each other in simulated emergency situations and transmit live images to St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton, Ontario, for review by radiologists.

The NEEMO 7 mission, underway from Oct. 11th-21st, is a joint project involving the NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Center for Minimal Access Surgery at McMaster University of Hamilton, Ontario. The mission aims to demonstrate and evaluate a variety of medical diagnostic and therapeutic technologies to enhance the delivery of medical care in remote and harsh environments, SonoSite said.

The experiments are taking place off the coast of Key Largo, Fla., 19 meters below the surface of the sea in an underwater habitat called Aquarius. The environment is analogous to human space flight and has been used by NASA in the training of space station astronauts since 2001, SonoSite said.

Weighing 7.7 pounds, SonoSite's Titan system utilizes ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) microchip technology to integrate millions of transistors onto one circuit, thereby reducing size and boots up in 12 seconds.

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