Medical Electronics

It happens the moment you walk in: without you being aware of it, an undercover system discreetly records your breathing and heartbeat. Welcome to the Katabi Lab, part of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Called Vital-Radio, the system needs no sensors attached to the body, yet is nearly as accurate as conventional ...

Electronics technologies are changing the way healthcare is provided and UK-based start-ups are lining up to take advantage of this potentially large business opportunity. Government plans to change the way long-term healthcare is provided will open up new opportunities for technology start-ups to address an emerging market. The long-term healthcare market is currently worth over £20bn to the UK economy ...

Escatec says it can now write the built-in self test (BIST) programs for production testing that links into National Instruments LabVIEW/TestStand PC test software. According to Michael Walser, head of global R&D at Escatec: “Writing the software programs that test the device and interface between the microcontroller and the production test PC is not a core competence of most customers but ...

Briton EMS has received ISO 13485:2003 medical certification for its manufacturing facility in Bedford, England. ISO 13485 is the international quality management standard for designers and manufacturers of medical devices and biomedical products. According to Tony Abri, Briton EMS’ commercial director: “It demonstrates our long term commitment to the UK and European medical device market and builds on our ISO9001 ...

New Zealand firm StretchSense will describe a tough fabric wearable sensor at the WT Conference being held in Munich, today (2 February). According to the company CEO Dr Ben O’Brien, the fabric sensor is rugged, accurate and slim enough to be invisibly included in the wearer’s clothing or on the body. “The innovative strain-locking mechanism we have developed means the sensor ...

High reliability connectors which are disposable could soon be used in medical electronics applications. This is the prediction of Gabriel Guglielmi, vice-president of business development, Smiths Connectors, and he says the company is developing the technologies to make this happen. A connector technology the company is working on is a material for the connector which is immune to viruses. “A ...

University of Washington engineers have designed a low-power sensor that could be placed permanently in a person’s eye to track hard-to-measure changes in eye pressure. The sensor would be embedded with an artificial lens during cataract surgery and would detect pressure changes. It was would integrate a low power radio chip to transmit measurement data. “No one has ever put ...

A new type of light sensor could support medical and security imaging, and also work with low cost cameras. This is the promise of new research at Surrey University.  The new ‘multispectral’ light sensor detects the full spectrum of light, says the university, from ultra-violet (UV) to visible and near infrared light. One application could be non-invasive medical procedures, such as ...

A fresh look at PCB fabrication could lead to on-the-spot medical tests for disease. Key to the development is the identification, by University of Southampton researchers, that a PCB manufacturing plant has everything needed to make micro-fluidic bio-chemical sensors. Disposable cartridges made like PCBs would clip into a hand-held analyser – also being development at Southampton. The idea is to ...

Electronic devices are helping doctors and nurses in healthcare, but even a minor electrostatic discharge could affect the operation of a blood pressure monitor or automated external defibrillator, so designers should factor in circuit protection requirements writes James Colby from Littelfuse. A growing array of electronic devices is available to healthcare providers, patients, and their families, including glucose meters, blood ...