Design and validation of an inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based sensor for capturing camera movement in the operating room

Intraoperative surgical video enables better surgical training, continued performance enhancement for surgeons and system-level quality improvement initiatives, however the capture of high-quality intraoperative video of open surgical procedures is difficult. Wearable cameras, typically in the form of a head-mounted action camera are frequently used for this purpose, although the video from these devices often contains significant motion artifact due to movement of the surgeon’s head. When trying to compare the performance of various wearable cameras in the surgical setting, we could not find a motion sensor appropriate for this purpose. We therefore describe in this article the design, assembly and validation of a small sensor that can be attached to wearable cameras in the operating room to objectively quantify camera motion. The sensor incorporates an inertial measurement unit coupled to a microcontroller. Concurrent validity is established by comparing the positional sensing of the device to a geared tripod head that allows for fine, measured manipulations of the sensor in three orthogonal axes. The methodology of capturing, processing and reporting camera movement for a surgical procedure is also detailed.