Chip companies focus on medical electronics

Intel, Analog Devices and Renesas Electronics are among the companies lining up to give presentations at Medelec, the only technical event in the UK to focus on electronics and embedded systems in the design and manufacture of medical devices. According to the organisers, the event will provide electronic engineers an opportunity to keep up to date with the latest technology behind today's medical devices. Conor Clancy, marketing segment manager at Intel, said: "Security has become a hot topic in the healthcare space, particularly as medical devices are moving progressively towards connectivity to help enable the ease of monitoring, tracking and supporting enterprise productivity. However, connectivity to the network can subject these devices to a wide range of viruses that has the potential to impact patient care by compromising data, leading to increased down time and increasing costs to cleanse the infected devices." Jan-Hein Broeders, healthcare business development manager at Analog Devices, will discuss healthcare breakthroughs that have been enabled by silicon. "Healthcare devices and medical equipment are being used more often outside hospitals and medical clinics," said Broeders. "What this means, is that key functions such as miniaturisation, portability and low power need to be fulfilled." Using the example of diabetes blood glucose meters, Jason Martin of Renesas will look at the technology trends used since the original 1kg Miles glucometer, where there have been improvements in measurement accuracy, user information storage and the lcd. "Probably the most important trend will be through communications," he said. "Whether it's direct communications from the meter to insulin pump or remote communications from the meter to the healthcare professional, there is one thing for certain – communications in healthcare will make major changes to both overall spending and people's lifestyles."