Medical Imaging Display Controller Boards Designed with Low Power, Profile Requirements

Medical imaging display controller boards have been designed specifically for diagnostic and review stations with low power, low profile requirements.

Matrox Graphics, Inc. (Montreal, Canada), a manufacturer of specialized graphics solutions, announced the introduction of the new low power, low profile, eXtended function RAD LPX Series display controller boards for space, budget, and energy-sensitive healthcare enterprises and medical imaging professionals.

Designed to extend the life of the long-serving RAD Series, the RAD LPX line offers several additional key features: low profile printed circuit boards (PCBs) with a bracket change to fit into small form factor or Advanced Technology Extended (ATX)-style workstation personal computers (PCs); fan-less by design, power consumption has been reduced compared to the original RAD Series; all the features available from its predecessor RAD Series, including Legacy eight-bit grayscale modes.

"We were given a challenge--how do you better the popular RAD Series line, which has been around for more than five years?” said George Rigas, business development manager for medical imaging, Matrox Graphics. "This new RAD LPX Series must supplement our offerings for the medical imaging community to embrace it for more years to come.”

Customer and partner input were used to address a variety of needs. Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) is still used globally, and many customers would prefer to swap out the display subsystem board than change their computer which has an already licensed picture archiving and communications system (PACS) application. "Many small form factor PCs are still in demand, so we need to support those as well with both PCI- and PCIe [express]-compatible solutions,” stated Mr. Rigas. "While we are designing a small form factor board, we might as well take the opportunity to design it without the need for a fan to further reduce power consumption. This has environmental benefits overall, since a low power board uses less energy and emits less heat. Let's also not forget that many mobile carts use small form factor PCs, and this is a huge advantage for cart designers.”

For many customers currently deploying the RAD Series, they can now utilize two new low power, low profile systems to create new opportunities for form and fit challenges, without abandoning their prior experiences using Matrox. "With the new RAD LPX Series, we added a desired feature unavailable in our original RAD Series design--the ability to replicate one output to another and change display settings without rebooting the computer,” continued Mr. Rigas. "Evolving the Matrox ONYX driver architecture over to the RAD LPX Series gives our customers new options, such as pairing a medical display with a projector for staff meetings. The ability to install two RAD LPX boards in a single PC, slot availability permitting, allows combinations which customers did not previously have. The RAD LPX low-profile board combinations are exciting.”

Matrox Graphics is a manufacturer of graphics systems for professional markets.

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