National ICT Centre of Excellence: The Bionic Eye
National ICT Australia Limited213 214 (NICTA) has been established through the Australian Government's ICT Centre of Excellence program. NICTA undertakes ICT research at the highest international standard and associated research training, industry development and commercialisation.
NICTA is working in close collaboration with several universities and research institutes to develop a Bionic Eye. The bionic eye is a functional retinal prosthesis capable of restoring vision to patients who suffer certain types of visual impairment. It consists of an externally worn camera that is attached to a stimulator on the retina in order to produce perceptions in the visual cortex. By implanting the bionic eye into people who experience partial or complete vision impairment, the bionic eye restores a person's eyesight so they can read small text and recognise familiar faces. Recipients will regain mobility and independence resulting in an improved quality of life.
Vision impairment in Australia
Retinitis Pimentosa (RP) and Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) are major causes of vision impairment in Australia. Retinitis Pigmentosa is a congenital eye disease that manifests itself as abnormalities of the photoreceptors in the retina. This disease progressively worsens with age and leads to total blindness. Affected individuals first experience night blindness, followed by reduction of the peripheral visual field (tunnel vision) and finally to total blindness. One of every 3 500 children are born with RP and it affects 1.5 million people worldwide.215
AMD affects the rods and cones in the macular and begins by affecting the central vision which progressively worsens and can lead to total blindness. Patients with advanced forms of AMD have difficulty recognising faces and have reduced mobility and quality of life. It is estimated that AMD alone currently costs the Australian economy $2.6 billion and this is projected to increase to $6.5 billion by 2025.
The development of a bionic eye by 2020 was identified in the Australia 2020 Summit as an innovative health technology that could improve the lives and well-being of all Australians.
Innovative technology enables the Bionic Eye
A bionic eye is being developed in partnership with NICTA, the University of Melbourne (UoM), the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the Bionic Ear Institute (BEI) and the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA). The team consists of retinal surgeons and physicians, materials scientists, biocompatibility experts, neurophysiologists, signal processing engineers and electrical and electronic engineers.
Some of the core technology that enables the bionic eye to function is provided by NICTA.
This includes:
- a new retinal implant that provides very dense electrical stimulation of the retina enabling high resolution vision. Other bionic eye projects are limited to low resolution vision because of the small number of stimulation points on the prosthesis. It is anticipated that the NICTA designed prosthesis will allow patients to recognise faces and be able to read text.
- a world leading, extremely small, ultra low power wireless communication system that can be implanted into an eye enabling efficient transfer of information between the implanted retinal prosthesis and an external camera. This eliminates the need for wires to pass through the eye and greatly reduces potential complications, trauma to the eye and the possibility of future infection.
- This wireless technology is based on the ground breaking technology developed in NICTA's Gigabit wireless project, announced in February 2008.
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[213] Reuse or distribution of this case study must include the following attribution: Australia's Digital Economy: Future Directions © National ICT Australia Limited and Commonwealth of Australia, 2009, www.dbcde.gov.au/digital_economy/final_report
[214] See http://nicta.com.au/
[215] Centrally Focussed, The Impact of Age Related Macular Degeneration. CERA / Access Economics 2006.
