System simulator for structural description and error analysis of multimodal 3D data integration systems

In surgical navigation systems, system error analysis is performed because of the need for correct superposition of three-dimensional data obtained with three-dimensional position sensors and different coordinate systems for the images. Lea and colleagues proposed a registration graph for providing a systematic description with a graph of the geometrical position of the system and performing error analysis. However, the registration graph requires the explicit input of errors for each 3D data item. The authors expanded this system to automatically calculate individually occurring errors from system design information through a simulation, and to perform direct error analysis from the system design information. As a result, a user without specialized knowledge of error analysis can automatically perform error analysis by virtually designing a 3D data integration system on a computer. In this paper, the authors constructed a system simulator for modeling point-to-point registration and 3D position sensors, performing automatic error calculation with the simulation based thereon, and designing a system easily using a GUI. Furthermore, as a demonstration of the simulator, the simulator was applied to error analysis for a system including point-to-point registration and 3D position sensors, and its effectiveness and reliability were confirmed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 90(8): 45–59, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.20377