Technology foresight: future trends in home healthcare equipment

Future home healthcare equipment of two key characteristics for connectivity and power consumption.

For many cases, can be diagnostic equipment of clinical records accurately pass to healthcare professionals and patients the ability of self care is equally important, such as diabetes management. For example, ECG (electrocardiogram) waveform can be used as a printout or signal through electronic communication channel to the clinician.

Electrical safety for portable medical equipment is equally important. For example, when the ECG equipment needs directly with computers and other devices are connected, the patients face the potential threat of electrical accidents.

ADI's ADuM4160 USB isolator can overcome this problem, enable patients and computer and network maintain complete electrical isolation, while also achieving full function of ECG and connected to the computer. In addition, portable devices measuring front end only a small amount of power you can drive amplifiers and data converters, ADI's isolated power ADuM5000 DC-DC converters can directly provide isolation of power supply, eliminating battery charging or replacement needs. These devices also can realize many of the previous requirements directly with patients for electrical connections household healthcare equipment design, and be able to achieve with a USB connected directly to a computer, providing storage, analysis and transmission of the results of all the features. These techniques also allow medical equipment designers can more easily meet IEC 60601 's latest requirements.

In addition, as the medical industry, many of the original is considered a medical industry edge industries such as home care system-related insurance will also be more and more involved in the construction of the medical industry.

However, because there is not yet implemented extensive interoperability, so for medical systems and information technology industry, this is an emerging development goals.

Once again, with the increase of population ageing, home care type of application is also a trend.

In addition to now have more application in the home blood glucose, blood pressure measurement, we expect future ECG equipment will go into the home. There will be more participants to this sector, will explore the different business models.

For example, cardiovascular disease to humans of destruction is very large, therefore, an electrocardiogram (ECG) may become a guardianship of our daily needs.

Also, the ECG devices added to some forward-looking technology, such as using acceleration sensor to the patient's movements to care, to help the doctor determine, to a certain exercise ECG status of patients. Sometimes, in the electrocardiogram (ECG) joined the MEMS, also monitors the patient does not normally happen, for example, in patients with fall, so that doctors and patients guardian can discover these emergencies.

Portable medical equipment, home of the future medical devices market in strong impetus.

And hospitals with medical devices, portable medical product needs in a small number of devices to achieve many of the performance, need to be able to more accurately handle more complex analog and digital signals.

This naturally brings power and cooling, as well as reliability, design complexity, and other challenges. This will require chip suppliers is committed to technical innovation and progress. Medical electronics has always been the ADI areas of concern. We have a world-leading analog and digital technology, continuous technological innovation is our goal to own that market provides cost-effective products and solutions. For example, the newly launched AD8235, as today's global market volume of the smallest and strongest performance at the lowest power consumption, it is an instrumentation amplifier in order to meet the ECG and other medical devices, portable-specific requirements.

For home medical equipment, in order to allow users to use more convenient and longer battery life and lower cost, product size and power consumption is critical.

ADI has such as 1.8V precision amplifier, new low-voltage techniques and processor technology development effort that will meet market needs, a more competitive technological capabilities.

Dimensions (portable), power (battery life even longer), ease of use (smart device), networks (from the specialist for data analysis, etc.) and cost (for end users, the price acceptable) is the home of the major challenges of medical equipment.

To help system builders overcome these challenges, ADI has been committed to in the following areas to help them resolve these challenges: signal conditioning products, such as amplifier/converter/processor (including integrated solution); power solutions; wired/wireless communications solutions.

Take advantage of our leading core technology, in line with market needs as well as easy-to-use solution, we have full confidence in helping our customers achieve market success.