Multiple communication networks for a radiological PACS

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Abstract
The authors have implemented a communication network connecting multiple buildings for their picture archiving and communication system (PACS) in the Radiology Department at UCLA. The network consists of three types of local area networks (LANs) and a 1.0-km fiber-optic link connecting the outpatient and inpatient facilities. Images from radiologic imaging devices (4 CT scanners, 5 MR scanners, 4 CR units and 5 film digitizers) are transmitted to the acquisition computers via the Ethernet LAN. The fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) LAN then provides data communication among the cluster controllers, the acquisition computers, and the database servers. A 1-gigabit UltraNet LAN is used to route images from the cluster controllers to remote display workstations. All inter-building connections are through fiber-optic cables. Among these multiple networks, Ethernet offers multi-access to the multimodal PACS in image acquisition, FDDI controls a fast data flow so that all acquired images have a shorter residence time on local disks, and UltraNet provides high-speed transfer of images from the cluster controllers to the display workstations. The three-tiered functionality of Ethernet, FDDI, and UltraNet eliminates network traffic bottlenecks and hence provides high performance in image communication. The delay time of a 2K X 2K X 8-bit CR image (4 MBytes) from acquisition to display is less than 5 minutes. In addition, the standard Ethernet serves as a backup to guarantee network connectivity of the entire PACS.

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