Phoenix Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor Project
Sub-project: Data Acquisition Prototype

Project Description

The purpose of the Data Acquisition Prototype subproject is to gain experience managing and implementing an open-source medical device project while building a possibly not-quite-functional prototype blood pressure monitor that extends the work that has come out of the sensor groups to date.

The project is designed so that one or more prototype devices are built by different people or groups that then report back on the things that they learned.

Open Positions in the Lab

We have a need for quite a number of people specializing in different areas of research, design, and manufacturing.  The current list of "jobs" that we'd like to find volunteers for is on this page.

Project Deliverables

The individual prototype subprojects are expected to deliver a prototype device with sensors and computer interface.  (The device acquires data over some period of time and uploads that data to a computer.)  A written report describing the steps that the project went through and documenting the decisions that were made is to be submitted and recorded on this web page.

Project Definition

There will be (at least) 3 phases to a Data Acquisition Device project, with a part of the final report written at the end of each phase.

  • Concepts and Requirements Analysis
  • Project Report, Part 1
  • Building and Testing
  • Project Report, Part 2
  • Delivery and Use
  • Project Report, Part 3
 (People that are familiar with product development or project management should recognize those bullet points as stages and gates.  Although I haven't made a strong point of it here, a normal procedure would be to get the incrementally-completed sections of the Project Report reviewed or approved before moving to the next stage.)

The Concepts and Requirements Analysis phase is where we envision an actual prototype device, including some initial level of decisions about hardware and software choices, power supply, sensors, and packaging.  The report at this phase should include a detailed draft of the project overview (a project plan), identification of the project team members, project team communication mechanism, identification of stakeholders or customers, itemized requirements description, an architectural description of the device to be designed, possibly a high level design description, cost and time estimates, identification of resource needs.

The Building and Testing phase includes designing the hardware and software, acquiring resources (parts, tools, software development environment, etc.), and physically building and testing the device itself.  The report at this phase should include the architectural specifications and the design specifications.

The Delivery and Use phase includes reworking the prototype device to make it "presentable" (if necessary), a functionality testing phase involving someone actually wearing the device for an extended period of time, and a demonstration to the Phoenix Project Coordination Team (if possible).  The project report should be finalized at this time, including test reports, instructions for use of the prototype device, re-working previously written sections as necessary, and a conclusion.  The final report must include enough detail that the entire project can be reproduced by another team without reinventing the wheel at any point.

The Phoenix Project Team

The Phoenix Project team is based in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN area, and meets at the University of Minnesota campus.  The meetings are on Saturday mornings (except holiday weekends), from 10:00 to 12:00 or later, in the IEEE student lab, room 2-110, Keller Hall (a.k.a. EE/CSci building), 200 Union Street SE, Minneapolis, MN, or by video conference calls on Skype (add "larry.beaty" to your contacts so we can add you in to the conference calls).

  Spring 2013 schedule:


Saturday                                           Sunday

Jan  5  Lab meeting
Jan 12  No meeting (IEEE officers training)        Jan 13  Coordination team meeting
Jan 19  Lab meeting
Jan 26  Skype                                      Jan 27  Coordination team meeting

Feb  2  Lab meeting
Feb  9  Skype                                      Feb 10  Coordination team meeting
Feb 16  Lab meeting
Feb 23  Skype                                      Feb 24  Coordination team meeting

Mar  2  Lab meeting
Mar  9  Skype                                      Mar 10  Coordination team meeting
Mar 16  Lab meeting
Mar 23  Skype                                      Mar 24  Coordination team meeting
Mar 30  No meeting (Easter holiday)

Apr  6  Lab meeting
Apr 13  Skype                                      Apr 14  Coordination team meeting
Apr 20  Lab meeting
Apr 27  Skype                                      Apr 28  Coordination team meeting

May  4  Lab meeting
May 11  Skype                                      May 12  Coordination team meeting
May 18  Lab meeting
May 25  No meeting (Memorial Day)                  May 26  No meeting (Memorial Day)

Jun  1  Lab meeting
Jun  8  Skype                                      Jun  9  Coordination team meeting
Jun 15  Lab meeting
Jun 22  Skype                                      Jun 23  Coordination team meeting
Jun 29  Lab meeting


Parking facilities are marked on this map, including notes on where to try to park on "football Saturdays" (home football games cause parking problems):

Resources

These resources might be useful to any data acquisition device subproject.

Data Acquisition Device Subproject Reports

At least one Data Acquisition Device prototype will be completed, by the Phoenix Project team.  The report from the team that produces it will be placed here when it is ready.

Other groups might wish to produce other prototypes, or to replicate a prototype project described here.  Reports from those groups are also welcome, and can be submitted for placement on this page.

Misc. Progress / Status reports from the lab

20081014
20081108
20090117
20090308
(Most of our lab reports are not online, sorry)

Volunteers Are Needed

Would you like to work on any part of this project?  Envision a prototype, propose a way to implement it, and send your suggestion to Larry.  Or start out by just asking questions.

About This Page

This page is maintained by Larry A. Beaty.  It was last updated on 24 January 2013.

The author(s) provide this information as a public service, and agree to place any novel and useful inventions disclosed herein into the public domain. They are not aware that this material infringes on the patent, copyright, trademark or trade secret rights of others. However, there is a possibility that such infringement may exist without their knowledge. The user assumes all responsibility for determining if this information infringes on the intellectual property rights of others before applying it to products or services.

(C) 2008-2013 Larry A. Beaty. Copying and distribution of this page is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.

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