Introduction to Paper by Yongmin Kim, Ph.D., et al, ?Development of a PC-based Radiological Imaging Workstation?

Abstract

THIS PAPER describes the University of Washington Graphics Systems Processor #1 (UWGSP1) that we developed in 1986 and 1987 as part of the DIN/PACS project at the University of Washington, which was funded by the U.S. Army. This marked the beginning of the UWGSP series systems that have contributed to medical imaging and computing. We are now completing UWGSP11, and UWGSP12 is in start-up. From UWGSP1 to UWGSP11, we have improved performance by a factor of 1,000 to 2,000; e.g., 512 × 512 complex 2D FFT took 9 seconds in the UWGSP1 compared with less than 10 ms today, and 512 × 512 affine warping took 7.5 seconds compared with 3.32 ms now. Amazingly, the basic hardware and software architecture remain the same. UWGSP1 was a very good platform for image processing and analysis. It was also effective in giving demonstrations—e.g., the real-time MRI multiplanar display. It was commercialized more as a microscopy workstation than as a radiology workstation. In the mid-1980s, regular PCs did not have the necessary speed or capacity in terms of memory, disk space, display resolution, and the number of monitors supported. However, the boundaries between PCs and workstations have become blurred since the mid-1990s. With the remarkable cost reduction and improvements in the CPU clock speed, memory capacity, network speeds, display, and user interface, PC-based radiology workstations can now compete successfully with the radiology workstation model. This work was inspired by the insight and constant encouragement of the late Dr. John W. Loop.