Three innovative designs from medical wearables to inspection equipment

Author: Christine Young, Maxim Integrated bloggers

From medical wearables to testing equipment, high-tech tools can help prevent more care while helping to achieve more personalized care. These tools are now able to measure a variety of vital signs, and research and development work is underway, with more health parameters expected to be included. Globally, preventive health technologies and services are expected to reach a market size of $432.4 billion by 2024. According to ReportLinker's research, this increase is partly due to the adoption of advanced technologies and preventive measures, including vaccines, screening and monitoring equipment, and smart devices that effectively reduce medical errors. For design engineers and medical professionals, this means creating a healthier world through visionary solutions. Let's take a look at how some young companies are taking advantage of this opportunity and using analog ICs to develop the underlying technology of virtual medical solutions.

HD Medical has developed an electronic stethoscope that enhances heart sounds by displaying heart waveforms in real time. For company CEO Arvind Thiagarajan, the company's ViScope stethoscope was inspired by the heartbeat experience of his youth. Anxiety's health concerns sparked his interest in medicine, but eventually entered a prestigious engineering school. A mentor from the college told him that he would become a “doctor's doctor” and that he would be able to benefit millions of patients. With the company's stethoscope, doctors can more accurately conduct screening for new patients by accessing data. The device also supports a telehealth model where heart data can be captured by a clinician and remotely observed by an expert at another location.

Designing ViScope Stethoscopes requires high performance, very low power and small form factor ICs. Thiagarajan and his team found the answer on Maxim's MAX32620 microcontroller, MAX14690 battery charge management IC, MAX1703 DC-DC converter and battery monitor. "The essence of the problem is miniaturization and low power consumption. Maxim has the best solution for us," Thiagarajan said.

For Dr. Samir Qamar, CEO of MedWand, technology is paving the way for virtual healthcare. The company designed the MedWand device, a handheld device that measures a variety of vital signs. Medical professionals can use the device to remotely inspect patients. "Our vision is that in the future, patients will be looked after, examined, tested and treated wherever they are," he said.

If the collected clinical data exceeds the set boundary, the MedWand device can automatically notify the patient's attending physician.

From a design perspective, MedWand engineers must integrate multiple medical sensors into a device that is slightly larger than a computer mouse, so internal ICs must be very small, power-hungry, and very low-cost. MedWand's equipment design uses a range of Maxim processors, sensors, power management and audio processing ICs.

Supporting telehealth is also the goal of Healcerion, which designs handheld ultrasound devices for medical professionals in under-resourced settings. The company's battery-powered SONON device is connected to a smartphone with a cloud-based image exchange system that supports remote guidance. Users can use the mobile app to access high-quality ultrasound images as a diagnostic guide. When developing SONON equipment, the engineering team sought technology that could solve ultrasonic signal processing. Small size, low power consumption and versatility are also important for ICs. Healcerion is using Maxim's MAX2082 8-channel ultrasound transceiver and the MAX4968B 16-channel linear high-voltage analog switch. "With Maxim's chips, we are able to develop compact ultrasound equipment that meets the requirements of handheld products," said company CEO Anakin Choung.

According to Accenture Consulting, "virtual medical care: a health care opportunity that needs to be tapped," the United States is expected to face a shortage of 31,000 grassroots doctors by 2025. At the same time, medical health costs will continue to increase. The consulting firm pointed out that virtual medical care is a solution to these problems. “Virtual medical can simplify work and shift clinicians' time to high-value tasks, so that more clinical care can be done without enrolling people. The report points out that there are three main ways in which virtual medical models can expand clinical capacity: Transfer tasks to patients, use technology instead of manpower, and automate tasks.

Innovations in companies such as HD Medical, MedWand, and Healcerion are just a few examples of virtual medical technology, which helps expand care capacity while reducing associated costs and work.