DICOM Echo

The DICOM Echo or DICOM Verification Service is a simple echo test through which a system on the network can request another system to verify its status. (As I mentioned before, this is sometimes called the DICOM-Ping in reference to the Ping utility commonly used to detect the presence of devices on the TCP/IP network.) If the remote system is not powered up, is not connected to the network, or the DICOM software is not running, then there will be no response. If the system is functional, the DICOM software will respond with a message that indicates the status. While it may seem like a trivial service, the DICOM Verify is a very useful tool for a quick test to see if remote systems are available for performing other DICOM services.

DICOM echo testing is a good way to see if two DICOM systems can talk with each other. The DICOM Verification service sends an Echo Request to a remote application entity given the AE Title. If the remote system is functional and has a DICOM VERIFY SCP capability, it will return an Echo Response. The Verification service is used to confirm that an association can be opened with a remote AE.