Designing Connected Medical Devices: Overcoming Key RF Challenges

As medical devices become more sophisticated and are marketed as “wellness devices” instead of medical equipment, their form factor is also shrinking. That’s making Internet of Things (IoT)-based medical devices even more popular with patients who don’t want or need to be tethered to a hospital or healthcare facility for real-time monitoring. Analyst firm Berg Insight says in 2016, 7.1 million patients enrolled in some form of digital health program featuring “connected” medical devices as a core part of their care plan. Berg expects the number of remotely monitored patients will reach 50.2 million by 2021, with 22.9 million patients expected to use Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) connectivity, preferring to use their own mobile devices. The variety of devices is also growing significantly. Cardiac monitoring devices, insulin pumps, defibrillators, CPAP machines, and other devices are becoming more prevalent as equipment that can be remotely monitored, providing patients and their caregivers valuable real-time information. IoT-based medical devices, of course, need to connect to the healthcare cloud, and that means they need a reliable antenna and RF system, which serves as the physical link to network connectivity, converting electrical signals into radio waves for transmitting and the opposite for receiving. An efficient, reliable antenna is critical, not only for connectivity in areas with weak signals, but also to avoid too much drain on the device’s battery. ...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Digital Health Source Type: news