Pulse

New Technologies Fuel Growth in the U.S. Patient Monitoring Market

As patient monitoring moves from critical to low-acuity areas within hospitals, and as telehealth increasingly lets patients be monitored in the home, the market for an expanding number of devices is expected to experience rapid growth. by Dr. Kamran Zamanian and Sara Whitmore, iData Research The total U.S. patient moni- toring market is expected to…

Amendment 1 to IEC 60601-1:2005 on Safety and Performance Published

On July 13, 2012, the International Electrotechncial Commission (IEC) published the first amendment to IEC 60601-1:2005, Medical electrical equipment – Part 1: General requirements for basic safety and essential performance. by Charles Sidebottom, P.E., Secretary, IEC/SC 62A The objective of IEC 60601-1 is to specify general requirements applicable to medical electrical equipment and systems and…
Overview of the Medical Semiconductor Market and Applications

Overview of the Medical Semiconductor Market and Applications

The huge advances in medical devices, especially the new mobile and connected devices, are being driven by the latest developments in semiconductors. These include large scale integration and reduced power consumption, but also semiconductor devices specifically targeted at medical applications.  In this article, we examine solutions from various suppliers.  The medical electronics market is heating up….
Interview with Doug Busch of Intel-GE Care Innovations

Interview with Doug Busch of Intel-GE Care Innovations

The medical electronic market continues to heat up as more and more people demand medical electronic solutions. Intel and GE, the two electronic giants formed a joint-venture called Intel-GE Care Innovations. MEDS wanted to find out how it came about and what they wanted to accomplish. Our publisher John Koon interviewed Doug Busch, Senior Vice…
Meet Embedded Software Quality Challenges in Medical Device Development

Meet Embedded Software Quality Challenges in Medical Device Development

The market opportunity for medical devices has never been greater. Rapid advances in software, hardware, networking and communication technologies are paving the way for dramatic innovations in device design and functionality. Medical device makers today are producing machines with amazing new capabilities for saving and improving people’s lives. By doing so, they are contributing to…
Pico-I/O Powers Portable Patient Monitors

Pico-I/O Powers Portable Patient Monitors

Advances in x86 processors, combined with a right-sized Pico-I/O peripheral card ecosystem based upon USB, make it feasible to meet the major requirements of portable patient monitors with fully off-the-shelf building blocks. Portable medical devices have used custom CPUs and custom I/O blocks for years. From the analog front end to the microcontroller or RISC…
The Body Gateway: mHealth Platform for Wearable Devices

The Body Gateway: mHealth Platform for Wearable Devices

Wearable medical devices offer a huge advantage in monitoring and early detection of symptoms. In order for them to fulfill their potential, they need a number of features to make them scalable, interoperable and more. The skyrocketing costs of healthcare have given rise to a rapidly growing segment: Mobile Health, or mHealth. mHealth technology is…
Persistent Publish/ Subscribe Alleviates Development Pains in Medical Devices

Persistent Publish/ Subscribe Alleviates Development Pains in Medical Devices

PPS messaging can ease the integration of diverse components and technologies in a medical device while maintaining a consistent user interface. when determining how best to add software intelligence to their products, medical device designers need to look beyond current requirements. Demands for human machine interfaces (HMIs), wireless networking, data storage and other capabilities are…
Clinicians-in-Training Explore the Human Heart

Clinicians-in-Training Explore the Human Heart

UCLH Heart Hospital teams with Glassworks to create the HeartWorks real motion heart modeling system. In 2006, three clinicians at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Heart Hospital, Drs. Sue Wright, Andrew Smith and Bruce Martin got together to share their frustration about the lack of a realistic model of the human heart that could be…
How the iPhone Is Enabling a Revolution in Connected Medical Devices

How the iPhone Is Enabling a Revolution in Connected Medical Devices

For small, mobile medical devices, designers are discovering a ready-made user interface and connectivity technology in the Apple iPhone, which can run apps to present data from medical devices and deliver that data where needed. Cell phones are undoubtedly the most ubiquitous handheld platform in the world, and have become attractive deployment platform candidates for…
3D Optical Surface Profilometry Provides Substantial Cost Reductions in Manufacturing Contact Lenses

3D Optical Surface Profilometry Provides Substantial Cost Reductions in Manufacturing Contact Lenses

As the design of contact lenses and interocular lenses has become more complex, more accurate 3D measurement technologies are needed to reliably produce the master forms needed for manufacturing. The global contact lens industry is undergoing major changes as shifting market demographics help to drive new technological development of contact lenses and interocular lenses (IOLs)….
Interview: Ed Hill, Director of Medical for Intel’s Embedded and Communications Group on Medical Vision

Interview: Ed Hill, Director of Medical for Intel’s Embedded and Communications Group on Medical Vision

For many years, Intel has been known as the silicon giant providing solutions to the PC platform including desktops, notebooks, netbooks, tablets, and now handheld and wirelessdevices. We all have heard about the digital health talk for many years, but we are starting to see real products being introduced to support remote healthcare using digital…