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Test Software Is Critical for Wireless Medical Device Designs

There is an ever-increasing number of wireless technologies in medical devices that provide many benefits, such as always-on patient monitoring and communications between staff and the machines used to monitor patients. The wireless technologies used in daily medical routines have become more advanced to help patients receive hospital or at-home care. Due to sensitive data, medical facilities commonly use medical wireless devices wireless medical technologies dedicated to security to help prevent data breaches. However, medical devices are adapting to wireless connectivity standards such as WLAN, Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE), ZigBee®, and near-field communication (NFC).

With the wide adoption of off-the-shelf wireless connectivity standards, there are more security and wireless breach compliance regulations for wireless medical devices. To meet regulatory standards, thousands of tests on wireless signals and designs must meet compliance, which cause many challenges such as time to market, difficult multi-testing steps, and ensuring accurate measurement results. Signal analyzers and signal generators are ideal for testing wireless medical devices. However, to ensure testing and designing do not delay time-critical manufacturing, the test software is critical throughout the process — especially in a high-security industry such as healthcare.

New Challenges

As the need for less expensive and more accessible healthcare continues to increase, more infrastructures rely on connected medical devices to monitor vital signs, diagnose medical conditions, and even treat patients by administering treatments such as electrical pulses or insulin. These technologies are improving the length and quality of countless lives and bringing healthcare to patients outside medical facilities.

Here are some significant issues that wireless medical device designers and manufacturers face:

With new challenges comes the need for high-performance hardware and software. Significant coexistence challenges require more testing, and meeting regulations for wireless medical devices is not easy. When medical devices begin to use off-the-shelf wireless connectivity standards not initially meant for medical and high-security data, device engineers must take additional steps to adequately address these issues. Software is critical in simplifying these challenges and enabling developers to be more precise in pinpointing errors or generating interference signals to test efficiently.

Signal Generation for Optimal Testing

Like any other technology, the wireless connectivity standards for medical devices are not easy or quick to achieve compliance since there are many generated signals to test. For radio frequency (RF) signals such as WLAN, Bluetooth® LE, ZigBee, and other high-frequency signals, a medical device designer or test engineer would require an RF and microwave signal generator.

When designing and testing wireless medical devices, a good performance signal generator is crucial because it affects the final product’s overall performance. Pure and precise signals depend on the signal generator’s phase noise performance. Various factors affect phase noise performance: the internal architecture, type of oscillator, internal and external frequency references, and the effects of additional built-in capabilities.

Choosing an industry-leading instrument with phase noise performance is important. Engineers must have testing software that can accurately generate signals. Paired with the signal generator of choice, an engineer can use signal generator software to define signal parameters, transfer them to the signal generator, and use a closed loop or interactive control during signal generation.

Signal-generating software helps to create accurate data signals and interference signals to test wireless medical device designs. Engineers can see an example of ease-of-use signal generation software in Figure 1, enabling configured signal standards as well as the ability to manipulate the generated signal in a few simple clicks.

Figure 1. This an example of PathWave Signal Generation Software to enable engineers to enhance their signal generators to create standard-based, accurate, and fast signals

Accuracy and Speed

Wireless systems, components, and modules must meet stringent standards. Some of the most important parameters to consider when selecting the correct hardware and software is to test the wireless subsystem in a medical device are:

Wide bandwidth is highly desirable when performing modulation quality measurements such as error vector magnitude (EVM), which requires capturing the entire modulation bandwidth to demodulate the signal. This parameter is important for demodulation signals with a wide bandwidth, such as LTE and WLAN 802.11ac signals.

Signal analyzers with good dynamic range and sensitivity would require long measurement times to reduce the noise in the measurement to adequately ensure accuracy. Also, low phase noise provides the ability to achieve low EVM for cellular communication, such as LTE measurements, allowing users to improve their design margin, quality, and yield.

High-performance test instruments meet these specifications, but not every engineer has the knowledge and capabilities to use the full capabilities of these instruments. Test software, such as signal analysis software and measurement applications, enables engineers to use all the capabilities of their instruments. Advanced, ready-to-use software enables engineers to see the complex errors and issues of wireless signals. When working with wireless medical devices, this visibility helps you by getting to the root of the problem, providing an enhanced perspective, and identifying problems quickly.

A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated with medium confidence Simplifying complex tasks is essential when dealing with wireless medical devices. You must deliver repeatable results to ensure wireless solutions meet expectations when running tests on medical designs. Test software enables engineers to find solutions and results from the design verification process to manufacturing and time to market. In Figure 2, you can see how test software helps engineers to visualize all the signal data in one layout without reconfiguring hardware settings.

Figure 2. PathWave X-Series Measurement software solution allows engineers to gain more insight into device performance with a single-view layout option

Test Software is Critical

Test software provides additional benefits for test instrumentation, making the testing and design process easier for wireless medical designers by enabling embedded format-specific, one-button measurements. With fast measurement speed, Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments (SCPI) programmability, pass / fail testing, and simplicity of operation. Testing software provides a comprehensive set of tools for demodulation and vector signal analysis in an industry where security, performance, and helping patients in need are top priorities. These tools enable you to explore every signal facet and optimize your most advanced designs.

Engineers who design and test wireless medical devices provide advanced solutions that help improve patient lives and provide exceptional tools for medical personnel. Engineers can overcome wireless medical device challenges when designing devices using high-quality test software and solutions.

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