Biomedical design projects developed around OEM devices

Jean-Michel I MaarekDepartment of Biomedical EngineeringUniversity of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA 90089jmaarek@usc.edu

Senior projects design course BME 405L: Senior Projects – Measurements and Instrumentation

15-week course with laboratory organized in 3 hours of classroom time + 3 hours of laboratory time per week

Offered twice a year to accommodate all BME seniors (~ 50 students year)

Enrollment: 18 students in Fall 06 and 27 students in Spring 07

Goals of Senior Projects course Course goals: to integrate applications of computer programming, signal transduction, data acquisition, data analysis, and signal processing in the design of medical and laboratory instrumentation

LabVIEW: standard in academic and industrial environments for data acquisition, interfacing of instruments, data analysis, and graphic user interface

Students apply LabVIEW as a tool for the design of computer-based medical virtual instruments

Topics addressed in BME 405L LabVIEW programming basics Software architectures Development of software requirements and use cases

Properties of signals and data acquisition

Instrument control Graphic user interface Light, pressure, and temperature transducers

Format

Time divided between instructor-led presentation (1/3 time) and student activities (2/3 time)

Activities to develop programming skills and practice concepts discussed with instructor

Instructor and teaching assistant roam the room during activities and assist students in their work

Six “canned” laboratories cover basics of data acquisition and instrument control, static and dynamic calibration of pressure, temperature, and light transducers, and a virtual frequency analyzer

8 week project to develop a computer based medical monitor using an OEM device

Term project with OEM device

OEM device: Ipod (Nonin) pulse oximeter and M2600 NIBP monitor (Colin Medical)

Programmer’s manual Serial (RS 232)

control and communication for implementation of medical monitor with several modes of measurement or signals

Graphic user interface Data storage

Functional requirements from use case

Project deliverables

LabVIEW program Graphic User Interface

Demonstration (rated by other group of students)

Design report

Conclusions OEM device provides realistic experience in terms of technical integration, use of technical documentation

Use case entices students to think about use of product by others. Graphical user interface also reflects emphasis on users

Favorable comments from industrial advisory board and high student evaluation marks but no formal evaluation