OpenIGTLink/Slicer

<< OpenIGTLink

Introduction

The OpenIGTLink module is a communication interface between 3D Slicer and Open-IGT-Link-compliant devices. It enables the 3D SLicer to import various types of data such as real-time images, tracking data and other user-defined commands and data. The module supports multiple device connections. Each of connections can be configured as either server mode (the Slicer waits connections from devices) or client mode (the Slicer request connection to clients) independently.

The module works with MRML to exchange coordinate and image data with other clinical modules e.g. NeuroNav and ProstateNav in the Slicer. The module has a dedicated graphical user interface to manage and control multiple connections.

Install the Software

From binaries

The Open IGT Link is currently distributed as a loadable module for 3D Slicer. You need to obtain 3D Slicer and Module object.

3D Slicer (Version 3.2 release)

• For Windows (32-bit)
• For Linux (x86, 32-bit)
• For Linux (x86, 64-bit)
• For Mac OS X (x86)
• For Mac OS X (PPC)

Open IGT Link Loadable Module (for Version 3.2)

• For Linux (x86, 32-bit).
• For Linux (x86, 64-bit).
• For Windows (32-bit).
• For Mac OS X(x86).

Install

• Copy the binary into your-slicer3-build(install)-directory/lib/Slicer3/Modules.
• You should see OpenIGTLink in the Slicer3 module list after Slicer is started.

Build from source

Build 3D Slicer

Please refer instruction in [1].

Build Open IGT Link Loadable Module

Before build the module, please make sure that your CMake's version is higher than 2.6. You can find it in Slicer3-lib/CMake-build directory, which was created during building 3D Slicer.

First, get the source code from the repository. For Linux and Mac:

 $ cd <working directory>
 $ svn co http://www.na-mic.org/svn/NAMICSandBox/trunk/IGTLoadableModules/OpenIGTLink OpenIGTLink

Create build direcotry

 $ mkdir OpenIGTLink-build
 $ cd OpenIGTLink-build

Then configure by using CMake

 $ cmake -DSlicer3_DIR=<Path to Slicer-build directory> ../OpenIGTLink

If the previous command has completed without error, you can start compiling

 $ make

After the compilation, you will find libOpenIGTLink.so (Linux) libOpenIGTLink.dylib (Mac) in OpenIGTLink-build dirctory.

Tracker Simulator for Testing

To test the Open IGT Link module (or other Open-IGT-Link-complaint devices and software), tracking simulator software is provided. This software simply sends dummy coordinate data to the server with specified frame rate. You can either obtain the software as a binary code or build from source.

From binaries

• For Linux (x86, 32-bit).
• For Linux (x86, 64-bit).
• For Windows (32-bit).
• For Mac OS X (x86).

From Source

To get the source code, run following commands:

$ mkdir <working directory>
$ svn co http://www.na-mic.org/svn/NAMICSandBox/trunk/BRPTools/ScannerIO ScannerIO

Then configure the source code

$ cd ScannerIO
$ ccmake .

Usually, you don't need to change any setting. Just press 'c' key by 'g' key to generate Makefiles. Press 'q' to quit the ccmake interface. Now you are ready to build the program.

$ make

The executable file can be found in ScannerIO/bin directory.

Testing Open IGT Link Module

Set up Open IGT Link Module

1. Select OpenIGTLink from Modules: menu
2. Open Connector Browser frame, and press Add button below the Connectors list to add a new connector
3. Configure the connector. Choose Server check box in the Type option, then clinck Active check box.

Run Tracker Simulator

To send dummy coordinate data to the Slicer running on 132.174.54.204 with frame rate of 10 fps, run:

$ cd bin
$ ./TrackerSim  10  c  132.174.54.204 18944

People

• Junichi Tokuda
• Haiying Liu