Dental Wings Leverages Hardent’s FPGA, Embedded Software, & Board Design Expertise

Launched in 2017, the Dental Wings Intraoral Scanner is a hand-held device that allows clinicians to quickly and easily create digital impression data that can be used to design and produce dental restorations, implants, and orthodontics. The Dental Wings Intraoral Scanner is small, ergonomic, and easy to use in clinic: it is made up of 4 cameras and a central projector, and takes a minute to conduct a full 3D scan of a patient’s mouth. Following the success of the Dental Wings’ first generation of Intraoral Scanners, the company wanted to develop the next generation of the device.

In a fast-moving and constantly-evolving market, where clear, precise image processing is paramount, the second generation of the scanner needed to deliver features that would push the boundaries of design. It needed to be even faster, even more accurate, and offer an even better experience for patients and clinicians.

To meet these challenging criteria, a brand-new device needed to be designed and developed.

As we started to scope the design for the new scanner, we realized early on that we would need to bring in experts in FPGA design as we didn’t have the skills in-house. Since we had already used Hardent’s design services to optimize the camera synchronisation features of our first-generation scanner, we were confident that their specialized team could help us design a highly-complex product under a tight schedule.
Robin Provost, Founder and CTO, Dental Wings

The new scanner would keep the same principle of stereoscopy, but be based on a new optical design.Using global shuttering techniques controlled in an FPGA, along with new multi-spectral fast sensors, and a cutting-edge optical system, higher resolutions with less hardware complexity became a reality.

These changes called for a new board design with flexible PCBs and innovative programmable sync generator logic to optimise the camera and critical data capture. In the world of dental imagery, no pixel can be left unaccounted for!

Hardent’s mandate focused on the electronics of the data acquisition subsystem within this complex optoelectronic device.

This involved:

• System architecture for the new device containing a multi-spectrum, multi-channel, USB-C-based 3D scanner
• Design of a USB 3.0, isochronous transfer, frame grabber with quad-flex PCB camera heads
• Design, validation, and testing of an FPGA that merges the synchronized camera serial links into a
  unified USB stream
• PCB design, layout, debug, and production readiness testing
• Development of low-level USB 3.0 interfacing library for a Windows 10 application
• Development of on-board embedded control software and device drivers
• Documentation and transfer of knowledge to the in-house Dental Wings team

Hardent’s design services enabled Dental Wings to:

• Achieve the desired performance goals for the new Virtuo Vivo scanner
• Successfully launch the product on schedule at the IDS 2019 show in Germany
• Select high-end electronic products for the device, as well as an established vendor base, to ensure a quality supply chain for commercialization
• Ensure full sustainability of their product through documentation and complete transfer of knowledge provided by the Hardent team

The Hardent team has a wealth of design knowledge that was invaluable in helping us achieve the performance goals for the Virtuo Vivo scanner. The quality of the work delivered by the team was outstanding and a key factor in ensuring that our product launched on time.
Robin Provost, Founder and CTO, Dental Wings

Founded in 2007, Dental Wings is a leading provider of digital dentistry technologies headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Dental Wings is committed to equipping dental professionals with cutting-edge diagnostic, design, and manufacturing tools that increase the efficacy, quality, and profitability of the services they provide to patients.

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