Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
information with respect to institution-wide competen-
cies. It has been created to allow every member of a team
or department to participate in the evaluation of
a co-worker (360-degree peer review).
Upon running the application, the user is presented
with a ''sign-in'' screen where he or she enters a username
and password. The application is divided into three
components. The first (top section) profiles the em-
ployee and the relevant service information. The second
(middle section) indicates each competency as defined
for employees, managers, and senior managers. The last
(bottom section) allows the reviewer to evaluate per-
formance by selecting one of four ''radio buttons'' and
also to provide specific comments related to each com-
petency. This information is then compiled (with other
reviewers) as real-time feedback.
scientists are opting to create their own PC-based data-
monitoring systems in the form of virtual instruments.
Other life scientists, who are just beginning to as-
semble laboratory equipment, face the daunting task of
selecting hardware and software needed for their appli-
cation. Many manufacturers in the field of life sciences
focus their efforts on the acquisition of raw signals and
converting them into measurable linear voltages. They do
not concentrate on digitizing signals or the analysis and
display of data on the PC. BioBench is a low-cost,
turnkey package that requires no programming. BioBench
is compatible with any isolation amplifier or monitoring
instrument that provides an analog output signal. The user
can acquire and analyze data immediately because
BioBench automatically recognizes and controls the Na-
tional Instruments DAQ hardware, thus minimizing con-
figuration headaches.
Some of the advantages of PC-Based Data Monitoring
include the following:
Easy-to-use software applications
Large memory and the PCI bus
Powerful processing capabilities
Simplified customization and development
More data storage and faster data transfer
More efficient data analysis.
Figure 5.5-19
illustrates a typical setup of a data acqui-
sition experiment using BioBench. BioBench also fea-
tures pull-down menus through which the user can
configure devices. Therefore, those who have made large
capital investments can easily migrate their existing
equipment into the Computer Age. Integrating a com-
bination of old and new physiological instruments from
a variety of manufacturers is an important and straight-
forward procedure. In fact, within the clinical and re-
search settings, it is a common requirement to be able to
acquire multiple physiological signals from a variety of
medical devices and instruments that do not necessarily
communicate with each other. Often, this situation is
compounded by the fact that end-users would like to be
able to view and analyze an entire waveform and not just
an average value. In order to accomplish this, the end-
user must acquire multiple channels of data at a rela-
tively high sampling rate and have the ability to manage
many large data files. BioBench can collect up to 16
channels simultaneously at a sampling rate of 1000 Hz
per channel. Files are stored in an efficient binary format
that significantly reduces the amount of hard disk and
memory requirements of the PC. During data acquisition,
a number of features are available to the end-user. These
features include Data Logging, Event Logging, and
Alarming.
Case study #3: BioBench—a virtual
instrument application for data
acquisition and analysis
of physiological signals
The biomedical industry relies heavily on the ability to
acquire, analyze, and display large quantities of data.
Whether researching disease mechanisms and treat-
ments by monitoring and storing physiological signals,
researching the effects of various drugs interactions, or
teaching students in labs where they study physiological
signs and symptoms, it was clear that there existed
a strong demand for a flexible, easy-to-use, and cost-
effective tool. In a collaborative approach, biomedical
engineers, software engineers, clinicians, and researchers
created a suite of virtual instruments called BioBench.
BioBench (National Instruments, Austin, TX) is
a new software application designed for physiological
data acquisition and analysis. It was built with Lab
VIEW, the world's leading software development
environment for data acquisition, analysis, and pre-
sentation.
*
Coupled with National Instruments data-
acquisition (DAQ) boards, BioBench integrates the PC
with data acquisition for the life sciences market.
Many biologists and physiologists have made major
investments over time in data-acquisition hardware built
before the advent of modern PCs. While these scientists
cannot afford to throw out their investment in this
equipment, they recognize that computers and the con-
cept of VI yield tremendous benefits in terms of data
analysis, storage, and presentation. In many cases,
traditional medical instrumentation is too expensive to
acquire and/or maintain. As a result, researchers and
*
BioBench
was developed for National Instruments (Austin, TX) by Premise Development Corporation (Hartford, CT)
.
