Next generation medical equipment: highly integrated, small form factor, connected and extremely agile

Medical and pharmaceutical equipment are primarily constructed around the core function of the instrument, as described by the intended use. However, to make it a useful device additional functionality is required and aspect can become pretty dominant. Users need to interact with the device, connections to the laboratory or hospital infrastructure are required, the handling of e.g. tissue or materials needs to be managed etc. And this is all in addition to the principle operation of the device. Most of the time this involves some sort of a chemistry process, data acquisition, data processing and decimation and interpretation of results. Given the nature of most procedures, safe and secure operation is mandatory.

As a development and contract innovation organisation in the medical domain, TOPIC Embedded Systems has learned that not-core functionality can become dominant in size, effort and development cost, depending on the implementation choices made. The current state-of-the-art technologies require designers to adopt new implementation architectures and make different design choices, unfolding capabilities not seen before. In this presentation we will dive into a typical example of a laboratory instrument and demonstrate how the latest silicon technologies are applied to build a highly integrated instrument, covering all medical device requirements including safety and security.

The goal of this presentation is to give you insights in what embedded systems are capable of nowadays and how that translates into superior products. Programmability and design for certification are also aspects that will be addressed.

Was lernen die Zuhörer in dem Vortrag:

Participants of this presentation will learn how architectures of modern silicon technologies will help to create more complex systems in a shorter period of time with more control over the end result. The aim is to give insight that a heterogeneous platform can simplify system development and reduce complexity.

Referenten: Dirk van den Heuvel und Annamarie Stanton,TOPIC Embedded Systems

Dirk van den Heuvel holds a master degree in electronic engineering from the University of Twente in The Netherlands. He is specialised in embedded solutions around embedded processors, FPGA devices and systems-on-chips. He contributed over the last 25 years to numerous projects, resulting in products in a wide variety of applications. As principle consultant within TOPIC Embedded Systems, he now supports the sales team with his expertise to address customer challenges and contributes to the engineering team with specific know-how.

Annamarie Stanton is electronic hardware architect and heading the hardware development team within TOPIC Embedded Systems. With a master degree from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and a MBA degree from the Heriot-Watt’s Edinburgh Business School, she deployed her skills in research and development in various domains, such as radar technology, industrial applications and medical devices. She is exceptionally knowledgeable for her expertise in high performance board development and system engineering. Together with her team of circuit- and board designers and firmware engineers, TOPIC is able to offer solutions that meet the requirements of advanced and demanding medical instruments.