Embedded Processing

Microchip announced this week a new business unit, its Medical Products Group. This new business structure is of particular interest not because of any new technology or products, but because Microchip has tangibly demonstrated that it sees the value of maintaining a business unit that is vertically focused on the medical equipment design community. In August of this year, The iNEMI (International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative) industry consortium started collaborative work on issues relating to medical electronics. I expect to see more announcements from other semiconductor and processor vendors in the near future because I think embedded processing is a key driver that will propel the availability and quality of personal and home-based medicine to new highs.

The growth and ubiquity of electronic medical equipment is masked by the personal nature of these devices. Unlike cell phones and MP3 players that people commonly use in public spaces, relying on a medical device is not a status symbol that most people are quick to display to the world. Contact lenses mask the fact that the wearer relies on vision correction. Hearing aids that fit wholly in the ear canal (including their power supply!) mask the fact that the wearer relies on a hearing aid. Diabetics use glucose meters on a daily basis, but they tend to use them in quiet and private locations. Some medical equipment is primarily for home use only; patients use CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machines, for example, while they sleep to help with sleep apnea and other respiratory conditions.

Smaller medical equipment that patients can easily forget about increases the likelihood that patients will follow through on their treatments, and this increases the success rate of out-of-the-office or home-based treatments. Small processors with low-power requirements that allow the use of small batteries are fueling the exploration of more wearable and/or implantable medical equipment. Maturing network connectivity and security support continues to push down into these small application spaces. Packages for 8-bit processors are available as small as 2×3 mm from Microchip and 3×3 mm from Silicon Laboratories. Low standby and sleep power consumption for small processors is pushing deeper into the sub µA range. A challenge for evaluating such low-power operation is developing a use model that accurately characterizes operational, sleep, and mode-transitioning (full on/sleep) power consumption.

In past articles, I have touched on the broad trends in medical electronics and recent advances to interface embedded electronics to people. I am planning another medical electronics article for sometime next year focusing on power management and extracting usable energy, such as through thermal differentials or kinetic energy from the patient, to power the equipment or provide a trickle charge to the battery. If you know of any resources that address these issues or people working on these types of issues, please introduce them to me.