With technological refinement of diagnostic ultrasound, a shift has occurred in fetal study from an emphasis on anatomical component to an investigation of the complex neurobehaviour and physiology of the fetus. One of the most significant advances provided by ultrasound is the potential it offers to examine the spatial and temporal characteristics of the movement of foetuses in their natural environment. The study of the spatial and temporal characteristics of fetal movement could significantly improve our understanding of neonatal sensorimotor functioning and the evolution of congenital motor disabilities ([1]).

In investigation of fetal movements the following organs are usually involved: trunk, arms, head, neck, breast, heart, eyes and mouth. Movement characteristics such as the force quality are important aspects of normal fetal movement strategies and may prove useful in early detection of fetal distress or pathology ([1]). Today, no medical devices are available that can give an accurate and automatic movement measures of separate different organs. Medical device that are available can only give indication of global well-being and movement of different organs can not be separated and measured. The most accurate and detailed information can be gathered by the use of a real-time ultrasound imaging systems. Physicians who are specialists in ultrasound monitoring can view the fetal motion and determine status of its neurological development. However, in most of the visual examination tests, the precise value of the movement kinematics parameters of fetal organs can not be obtained, rather they are described qualitatively by terms such as fast, slow, forceful, etc. Only recently, attempts were made to quantitatively measure the fetal angular velocity of the shoulder joint using real-time US images. These attempts were carried out through the use of special measuring equipment that is handled manually. Such a measuring process requires significant efforts and time due to the numerous amounts of frames of the images in the ultrasound video sequences.

The system developed in this study is aimed at automation of this process. The system (Fig. 1)  complements the routine system used to record a video cassette of US fetal movie with a  PC based image processing experimental system for analysis of the recorded video sequence. The system applies to organs such as arms and head that exhibit rotation and shifting movements. For these organs, the system measures the kinematics parameters of shifting, rotation and angular velocity. The importance of these kinematics parameters is that they help to assess the force quality of the movements.