.. _streammodule:

Stream
======

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 2

   algorithms

The Stream module contains functionality to work with real-time sources of data (so-called streams). Examples include image streams ("Image Stream") such as webcams or ultrasound devices, and sources of real-time tracking data such as optical or electromagnetic tracking systems or robots ("Tracking Stream"). This module comes with central capabilities to handle such real-time data in the ImFusion Suite and is needed as foundation in all plugins implementing interfaces to real-time data sources.

In general, the Stream module adds the following functionalities to the ImFusion Suite:

* Data structures for streams, most notably ImageStream and TrackingStream
* ImageStreamCache: a component that allows to visualize image streams directly in 2D and 3D views
* Support for loading both cameras (standard operating system video sources) as well as video files as streams
* An OpenIGTLink implementation for bi-directional image and tracking stream support
* A high-level algorithm to record data received from streams into offline data structures for further processing
* Playback of recorded image sets and tracking sequences as streams (standard playback streams)
* Fake image and tracking streams for testing purposes


On the foundation of this plugin, dedicated plugins are available to be purchased for specific hardware: 


Imaging Plugins
---------------

- RGB-D plugin supporting a wide range of RGB-D cameras
- Verasonics plugin: full high- and low-level support for Verasonics Vantage NXT ultrasound devices
- GE AppAPI plugin: support for receiving images from all GE ultrasound devices with the data streaming option (commercially available currently only recent Vivid scanners)
- BK plugin: support for receiving images from BK Medical ultrasound scanners
- Cephasonics plugin: full high- and low-level support for Cephasonics Cicada ultrasound devices
- Clarius open-source plugin (not officially supported): Support for Clarius ultrasound devices is available as open-source plugin `here <https://github.com/ImFusionGmbH/ClariusCastPlugin/>`__
- Epiphan plugin: support for DVI2USB frame grabbers (note: recent AV.io frame grabbers register as standard video source to the OS and do not require this plugin)


Tracking Plugins
----------------

- NDI plugin: NDI Aurora (electromagnetic) and Polaris Vega/Lyra (optical) tracking systems
- Atracsys plugin: fusionTrack and spryTrack tracking systems (both optical)
- OptiTrack plugin: any OptiTrack optical tracking system