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Siemens e.cam
Medical Device
www.siemensmedical.com

Base2 developed firmware for a subsystem of the e.cam nuclear medical scanner. The e.cam is basically a camera using gamma rays. The patient ingests or is injected with a radioactive dye. The patient then lies down on the bed of the e.cam while the detector head skims the body as closely as possible without making contact, taking a gamma ray "picture" in real-time. The collision avoidance subsystem senses proximity using an infrared scanner and reports results to the main computer via a serial link. The subsystem also has real-time control of a DC motor and provides calibration functions. Base2 was involved in all phases of development and produced documentation as suggested by FDA software development guidelines and by Siemens' quality standards. In addition, bench-test software was written to test the software and to provide the hardware engineers with an effective debug tool.

Features:

· fail-safe design
· packetized serial data link to host computer
· software control of infrared proximity detectors
· serial port commands for automated testing
· closed-loop control of DC motor and electromagnetic tilt clutch
· field-upgradable firmware
· hand-optimized code to meet performance requirements