Teleoperation: The Next Frontier in the RTI MedTech Reference Architecture

The Future of Surgical Expertise is Remote

The advancement of surgical robotics has reached a crucial inflection point: the ability to extend the expertise of top-tier surgeons beyond the operating room. In the not-too-distant past, this was a dream; today, procedures are being performed across the globe.

Remote teleoperation is the technology that allows robotically-assisted procedures to be performed across great distances. This transformational advancement will enable healthcare providers to:

• Deliver expert care to underserved populations
• Facilitate real-time collaboration among global experts
• Help address critical surgeon staffing shortages

However, designing a safety-critical surgical robot that must operate across both, a controlled local area network (LAN) and an unpredictable public Wide-Area Network (WAN) introduces significant challenges. Surgical robots require ultra-low latency, unwavering precision, and ironclad security – all non-negotiable requirements when patient safety is on the line. With remote teloperation, reliability concerns and failure modes across the system increase dramatically. A robust and low-latency data streaming architecture is needed to simplify and accelerate the design of telesurgical systems.

To help our customers navigate this complexity, we are thrilled to announce a new, essential module in the RTI MedTech Reference Architecture: the Teleoperation module.

This is the latest addition to the existing RTI MedTech Reference Architecture, which contains documentation, example code and demonstrations of a Surgical Robotics use case, plus how to record and replay data from a live system using RTI Recording Service and RTI Replay Service.

What the Teleoperation module shows: reliable connectivity over any distance

This latest addition to the MedTech Reference Architecture provides best practices for building secure, reliable, and high-performance remote-teleoperated medical devices using RTI Connext^®. It serves as a working example of how to solve the most critical communications challenges that arise in real-world telesurgery systems.

Figure 1 - Remote Teleoperation capabilities in the MedTech Reference Architecture.

Takeaways from the module

1. Conquering the WAN challenge: The module provides a tangible example of how Connext’s data streaming capabilities enable reliable, real-time data exchange, even when operating over unreliable public networks. This ability to maintain connectivity over distance is what truly enables production-ready teleoperation products. Connext is a connectivity middleware that:
   1. Connects safety-critical applications (surgical robotics, automotive, aerospace & defense)
   2. Is widely used by Robotics Engineers and SW Architects
   3. Runs over any network (Internet, 5G) and is ideal for mitigating packet loss/jitter
   4. Helps ensure that data gets there, when it needs to get there
2. Achieving precision with ultra-low latency: In surgical robotics, every millisecond matters. The module highlights how Connext is engineered to deliver the ultra-low latency required for high-fidelity sensor and video feedback across the system, ensuring sub-millimeter precision, real-time control and end-to-end reliability.
3. Built-in security and applied best practices: Medical devices must meet stringent regulatory requirements. This module demonstrates how to leverage Connext's built-in data security features, including network-independent authentication and encryption. These capabilities are also vital for meeting regulatory and end-user requirements, as well as satisfying new industry guidelines such as the Expert Consensus-Based Technical Guidelines for Remote Robotic-Assisted Surgery and Procedures.

Who should explore this module?

1. Robotics / Software Engineers and Architects:
   1. This module provides the exact code, architecture, and configuration files to architect a system for long-distance communication, using Connext's WAN capabilities for your remote control applications.
   2. Instead of using TCP for reliability, this module uses UDP + Connext reliability to achieve greater performance (lower latency and higher throughput). 
2. IT Buyers and Product Managers: This Reference Architecture provides a real-world example that demonstrates how Connext can accelerate your product development pipeline by solving the hardest networking and security problems upfront. The benefit for developers and manufacturers is clear: Connext helps reduce technical risk and time-to-market for your next-generation medical device.

Ready to revolutionize your remote applications?

The Teleoperation module is now publicly available on GitHub as part of the RTI MedTech Reference Architecture portfolio. We invite you to start leveraging industry-proven capabilities and best practices today with our fast-start code and examples, which enables customers to focus their development efforts on innovative product features, instead of troubleshooting data delivery and integration issues.

Next steps

We invite you to download and explore the RTI MedTech Reference Architecture and experience the new Teleoperation module, to see how Connext provides the low-latency, secure, and reliable software communication backbone needed to connect top-tier surgical expertise to the entire world. 

For more information, check out:

• RTI MedTech Reference Architecture Case + Code
• RTI MedTech Reference Architecture capability brief
• Medical Robotics capability brief
• RTI Healthcare page
• Engineering Telesurgery webinar
• NVIDIA Isaac for Healthcare blog

About the authors: 

Fran Porcel is a Principal Application Engineer at RTI, working for the RTI Professional Services Team in the San Francisco Bay Area. With almost 8 years at RTI, Fran is a Subject Matter Expert in Medical Software & Surgical Robotics. He trains RTI's customers on the usage of Connext daily, while also helping them architect Connext in their systems. He's also helped customers who have successfully been approved by the FDA.

Will Coleman is a Senior Application Engineer on the Professional Services team at RTI. Will collaborates with and guides RTI’s customers on using Connext in ways that best satisfy their unique requirements. He primarily works with teams in the medical and automotive spaces.