The invention involves a system and method for increasing positional accuracy of surgical systems that utilize magnetic or electromagnetic sensors to provide positional awareness to a surgeon or robot performing the surgery. The system takes advantage of electromagnetic tracking through sensors. These sensors are very accurate and repeatable, while being compact enough to not inhibit surgical procedures. The accuracy and repeatability of the sensors is <1 mm within a predetermined 6 inch×6 inch performance motion box. The system is constructed and arranged to map the distortion patterns of the sensor and, in real time, correct the distortion pattern to provide accurate location of anatomical structures for performance of a surgery.

A hand-held probe for measuring radiation or magnetic activity includes a probe having a handle having a longitudinal axis and a shaft portion adapted to be inserted or held above a radiation or magnetic emitting source implanted within a patient's body or tissue of interest, the shaft portion includes a radiation or magnetic activity sensor configured to detect and measure radiation emitted from the radiation emitting source or magnetic activity from a magnetic source; the radiation emitting source being an implanted seed or a radioisotope that is injected near a tumor site in the patient's body; the probe including a signal processing device for further processing the measured radiation or magnetic activity; and a communication medium to exchange data from the hand-held probe with an external data processor unit.

A hand-held probe for measuring radiation or magnetic activity includes a probe having a handle having a longitudinal axis and a shaft portion adapted to be inserted or held above a radiation or magnetic emitting source implanted within a patient's body or tissue of interest, the shaft portion includes a radiation or magnetic activity sensor configured to detect and measure radiation emitted from the radiation emitting source or magnetic activity from a magnetic source; the radiation emitting source being an implanted seed or a radioisotope that is injected near a tumor site in the patient's body; the probe including a signal processing device for further processing the measured radiation or magnetic activity; and a communication medium to exchange data from the hand-held probe with an external data processor unit.

In a magnetic field source detecting apparatus, a magnetic sensor unit detects an intensity and a direction of a measurement target magnetic field on or over a surface of a test target object; and a position estimating unit estimates a position in a depth direction of a magnetic field source that exists at an unspecified position inside a test target object on the basis of the intensities and the directions of the measurement target magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor at at least two 2-dimensional positions of the surface.

In a magnetic field source detecting apparatus, a magnetic sensor unit detects an intensity and a direction of a measurement target magnetic field on or over a surface of a test target object; and a position estimating unit estimates a position in a depth direction of a magnetic field source that exists at an unspecified position inside a test target object on the basis of the intensities and the directions of the measurement target magnetic field detected by the magnetic sensor at at least two 2-dimensional positions of the surface.

A method for determining a transportation mode acquires magnetometer and speed data from a mobile device, correlates the magnetometer to the speed data in groupings, and performs spectral analysis on the groups of magnetometer data. Energy calculated for each of a set of frequency components obtained from the spectral analysis is compared to a baseline value to generate a difference, and a transportation mode type is assigned to the vehicle based on the difference.

An information acquisition method includes: executing a voxel defining process to divide an area in which a signal source is assumed to be present and define a voxel division V1 specifying resolution of an image; executing a data collecting process to acquire magnetic field data resulting from measurement of a magnetic field generated in the area; and executing a reconstructing process to estimate, by using a mathematical algorithm, a direction and strength of a current of a signal source at a location of each voxel based on the acquired magnetic field data. The reconstructing process includes: calculating a Gram matrix by using a voxel division V2 defined coarser than the voxel division V1; and reconstructing, by using the Gram matrix, a direction and strength of a current of a signal source in the voxel division V1.

A sensor comprises a housing; and a lead frame comprising at least three elongated leads having an exterior portion extending from the housing; and a magnetic sensor circuit disposed in the housing and connected to the lead frame. The housing comprising at least two recesses or at least two lateral protrusions arranged on two opposite sides of the housing, for allowing the sensor to be mounted to the support. A component assembly comprising said sensor mounted on a support, the support comprising a plurality of first and second posts and a plurality of electrical contacts. A method of producing said component assembly, comprising the step of arranging said sensor with its elongated leads adjacent the first posts, and arranging its lateral protrusions and/or lateral recesses adjacent the second posts, and connecting the elongated leads to the electrical contacts.

A sensor comprises a housing; and a lead frame comprising at least three elongated leads having an exterior portion extending from the housing; and a magnetic sensor circuit disposed in the housing and connected to the lead frame. The housing comprising at least two recesses or at least two lateral protrusions arranged on two opposite sides of the housing, for allowing the sensor to be mounted to the support. A component assembly comprising said sensor mounted on a support, the support comprising a plurality of first and second posts and a plurality of electrical contacts. A method of producing said component assembly, comprising the step of arranging said sensor with its elongated leads adjacent the first posts, and arranging its lateral protrusions and/or lateral recesses adjacent the second posts, and connecting the elongated leads to the electrical contacts.

A high-temperature three-dimensional Hall sensor with a real-time working temperature monitoring function includes a buffer layer, an epitaxial layer, and a barrier layer sequentially grown on a substrate. A high-density two-dimensional electron gas is induced by polarization charges in a potential well at an interface of heterojunctions of the epitaxial layer. A lower surface of the substrate includes a vertical Hall sensor for sensing a magnetic field parallel to a surface of a device. An upper surface of the barrier layer includes a “cross” horizontal Hall sensor for sensing a magnetic field perpendicular to the surface of the device.