Wipro Technologies is building a hi-tech mobile ultrasound machine for emerging markets that can be used by consumers at home and the images it captures could be accessed and examined by doctors in remote locations. The device, which potentially can boost telemedicine in India, is in the works and prototyping would take another six months.
Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of organs and systems in the human body for diagnosis.
Wipro executives told FE that the firm plans to make ultrasound devices portable using nano electronics. It has partnered with Belgium firm IMEC, a research and development outfit in nanoelectronics and nano technology.
?While IMEC is supplying the core technology and the chip for the product, Wipro is doing the product engineering and is working on the imaging software,? chief technology officer Anurag Srivastava said.
?The mobile ultrasound would be a combination of many technologies. It would integrate hyperspectral imaging, for instance,? Srivastava noted.
Hyperspectral imaging, thus far deployed for terrestrial applications, has recently found medical uses. Spectral imaging divides the spectrum into multiple bands, more than what the human eye can see, and in healthcare, can potentially cut down the risk of complications during medical procedures.
The firm plans to license the IP for the product to medical equipment companies such as GE. Such efforts may help the company diversify its revenues from the linear model it follows where revenue growth is more or less proportional to people growth, other executives said.
Srivastava said that Wipro was looking at new service models like remote health delivery since 50% of India?s rural population couldn?t reach primary healthcare centres.
?We are adopting an ecosystem approach for emerging markets and are investing in it. The ecosystem could comprise a software platform, chipmakers, OEMs, system integrators and the academia,? the CTO said.
Wipro on Monday night announced the Applied Research in Intelligent Engineering Labs, a joint initiative between IMEC and Wipro to co-creatre solutions for emerging markets.
The two firms have been working over the last nine months on another medical product, an ?ECG Necklace?. The necklace has sensors and a person wearing it can transmit medical data over the cloud to a remotely located doctor for diagnosis. The product has been prototyped and is now ready to be taken to market.