June 20, 2014 — Mobius Imaging LLC received two prestigious and internationally recognized honors for its AIRO Mobile Intraoperative CT (computed tomography) system: a 2014 Red Dot Product Design Award and selection as a finalist in 17th annual Medical Design Excellence Awards competition. Varian supplies Mobius with the high performance X-ray tube that powers the AIRO system's intraoperative CT imaging.
The AIRO system, with its FP1000 CT tube, won a 2014 Red Dot Product Design Award in the Medicine and Life Science category. The Red Dot organization, which is based in Essen, Germany, awards prizes annually for product design, design agencies and design concepts. This year, a jury of 40 accomplished designers and design experts from across the globe evaluated over 4,800 products that were submitted by designers and companies from 53 countries. The winners were announced in March.
The AIRO was also selected as a finalist in the Radiological and Electromechanical Devices category of the 17th Annual Medical Design Excellence Awards competition. Finalists were officially announced in the April Issue of MD+DI (Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry) magazine. Winners were announced at the 2014 MDEA Ceremony on Wednesday, June 11, 2014 in conjunction with the MD&M East event at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.
The AIRO integrates advanced imaging technologies into a compact, mobile CT system that offers procedural flexibility and real-time imaging where and when it is needed. The AIRO system is small and maneuverable, yet offers a large gantry opening, making it ideal for intraoperative imaging. It incorporates a variety of custom components, including a specially-designed lightweight, compact X-ray tube from Varian.
"Our AIRO mobile CT imaging system can be moved from room to room in the hospital; it's not bolted to the floor in radiology like other conventional CT systems," said Gene Gregerson, president of Mobius Imaging. "The challenge was to make it both big and small — big enough in the middle to accommodate larger patients and immobilization devices, and small enough in terms of outer circumference to be mobile. So we made the ring very narrow; it is only about 10 percent of the volume of a typical CT scanner ring. That left very little room for the X-ray tube. Varian developed an amazing piece of technology for us, and it is a key component that makes the system possible."
According to Stephen Kimmel, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Varian's Imaging Components Business, Varian had been working on a project to take its patented anode end-grounded X-ray tube design, which produces tubes that can run cooler and last longer, and adapt it for the mid-tier tube market. "We agreed to expedite the project and so Mobius became the catalyst for the development of what is now our new FP1000 CT Tube," he said.
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May 03, 2025 
