Case Studies: Device Control

Telemedicine, using technology to bring doctors and patients together efficiently over distance, is a rapidly growing field. Since 2008, Saturn Systems has provided core software development and quality assurance services to industry leaders. Our projects range from medical device communications and integration, to online calendar management. Saturn Systems’ unique skills mix of device control and enterprise application development are the perfect fit for the industry.

Electronic blood glucose meters are used by diabetics to accurately track blood sugar levels. They are used by doctors in telemedicine to track a patient’s daily and long term ability to manage these levels. Available meters communicate with a PC using either serial or USB communications. Saturn Systems has developed and integrated drivers for a number of these devices, each of which has a unique communications protocol.

In the process of upgrading the audio conferencing features of their flagship product from Windows XP to Windows 7, one of Saturn Systems telemedicine clients discovered that support for acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) was no long supported in the Microsoft Real-Time Communications libraries. Saturn Systems engineers were asked to replace the system with a custom solution and a new audio codec. Using Microsoft’s Media Foundation technology, a replacement was developed that included the necessary loopback functionality required for echo cancellation. The resulting component provided better quality audio and efficiency than the original solution and was integrated with the core product successfully.

Saturn Systems engineers integrated a Bluetooth compatible medical device, in this case a bathroom scale, with an existing telemedicine platform. Integrating new Bluetooth devices with the platform in the future will be a matter of developing the necessary driver code to communicate with the device using its protocol and plugging that into the newly developed Bluetooth infrastructure.

Saturn Systems was contracted to develop a C# .NET based driver to communicate with an ANSI 12.19 compliant smart meter over general packet radio service (GPRS). The resulting driver had to be integrated with an existing parser to produce readable data for inclusion in a database. The project required our engineer to quickly understand the depth and complexities of the ANSI 12.19 protocol as well as an undocumented custom parser module. The project resulted in a robust, object-oriented driver framework and common data link layer that supported protocol enhancement and meter specifics. The parser code was also abstracted to support generic 12.19 parsing as well as the easy addition of meter specific data parsing. All code was developed and tested using a custom driver application used to exercise all features and functions supported by the driver.

Saturn Systems was contracted by a customer to upgrade the software control system for a high technology sewer inspection system. This suitcase based system is used by drain cleaning professionals and features a remotely operated video camera controlled by software that runs on a customized laptop. The application records video, operator audio, and distance travelled by the inspection camera. Saturn engineers added several new features, upgraded the system for Windows 7, and integrated several disparate third party video capture and production components into a single package, saving the client thousands of dollars in annual licensing fees.