Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Cell Processor - Beyond a gaming processor

Found this link that is very intriguing.

Its suggests that a newer "low power" version of the cell processor is coming out. And the next best industry to make use of it .. will be in medicine. I think Folding@home proved the power of the PS3 in medical research ... but this blogger's suggestion that live medical devices like 3d CAT-scans, live interactive medical imaging .. will be the next big hit.

I thinks that's a great idea! When you think about it .. live 3D interaction is not too different than a hi-resolution FPS (first person shooter). Ignoring, of course, the data stream requirements. Which in this case is what would limit the use of a standard PS3 (digital CAT scans can already generate 6 Gigabytes / sec data streams ... ignoring the whole packet buffering issue .. that out-classes the PS3's 1000Base-T LAN connection).

Now think of the same CAT scanner connected to a custom box with two or three cell processors .. with a 10G network link. Haven't run the numbers .. but I'm pretty sure there's enough horse power there for a custom app to display and modify (read filter) what is being displayed. Imagine now a dynamic disease filter that identifies and highlights on the 3D image ... in real time.

Its a brave new world in interactive medicine!

Update:
Looks like there is plenty of motion in this direction:
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34085/118/ IBM Opens first cell research center on college campus.
http://news.soft32.com/mayo-clinic-and-ibm-to-improve-medical-research_5824.html Mayo Clinic and IBM to Improve Medical Research.