The Blood Pressure Monitor (A3051, BPM) is a new implantable telemetry sensor currently in development at OSI. Prototype devices are undergoing trials at collaborating institutions. The device in the photograph above is an A3051D2HT, which provides 256 SPS of pressure measurement in the range 2.6-406 kPa and 64 SPS temperature in the range 0-50 °C. We slide a catheter into the silicone coupling tube shown in the photograph, backfill the catheter with heparin solution using an even thinner catheter pushed all the way down to the pressure sensor, and place a barrier of biocompatible gel at the sensing end of the catheter to separate the host animal's blood from the fluid in the sensing catheter. Aside from working on the placement of the sensor on the device body, and the location of suture loops, our main remaining technical challenge in this development is finding a barrier gel that performs the dual function of separating the two fluids and communicating blood pressure changes without attenuition between the fluids. For more information and updates on development, see our A3051 Manual.
The Embedded Ethernet Module (A3053, EEM) is an embedded microcontroller with a TCP/IP stack and several dozen general-purpose inputs-outputs. The module takes the form of an MPCIE card, so it mounts directly into a socket on a mother board. The mother board hosts a magnetic RJ-45 socket that connects to the EEM's Ethernet physical interface (PHY) through the MPCIE connector. Programming the EEM takes place through a connetor on the mother board. The EEM also provides a three-wire UART console interface that can be routed through a connector on the mother board. The general-purpose input-output signals are all programmable, and include many that can use used for analog input and output. The processor on the EEM is a PIC32MZ2048EFH100 thirty-two bit microcontroller from Microchip. We provide example source code to help you get started using the EEM in your own application. The EEM is specifically designed to act as a drop-in replacement for the obsolete Rabbit Semiconductor RCM6700. We will be using the EEM to replace the RCM6700 in our LWDAQ Relays. For more information and updates on development, see our A3053 Manual
The Analog Signal Generator (A3052, ASG) is a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), two-channel, programmable signal generator. The proposed A3052A signal generator provides sinusoidal output from 1 mHz to 5 MHz with dynamic range of ±10 V into a high-impedance load and ±5 V into a 50-Ω load. We connect the generator to our local area network (LAN) with a PoE switch. It provides a TCPIP interface identical to that of our LWDAQ Servers. It listens at its own IP address and port, waiting for a client connection. The function generator contains two signal sources, each of with its own 8-KByte waveform memory, 13-bit waveform length, 32-bit clock divisor, 8-bit digital-to-analog converter, variable low-pass filter, variable attenuator, power amplifier, and 50-Ω output. For more information and updates on development, see our A3052 Manual