When it comes to Medical applications ON Semiconductor provides a wide range of products from; audiology DSP systems; special microcontrollers; CMOS image sensors; digital ASICs; mixed-signal ASICs; SRAM and EEPROM memory. These solutions can be used in everything from Hearing aids to Ultrasound imaging, but also in applications such as glucose meters, cardiographs patient monitoring and Pulse Oximeters.
Interest in wireless systems for medical applications continues to increase due to the benefits over wired technology e.g. ease of use, reliability, flexibility, lower cost with a reduced risk to the patients. Portable devices such as pulse oximeters are essential instruments in intensive care especially in mass emergency situations like natural disasters, acts of terror and military conflicts. These catastrophic events can strike anywhere in the world (both in the developed and developing nations).
However, tragically, it’s within the developing world where natural disasters have a more devastating effect on an already fragile medical infrastructure. Typically it’s outside agencies, from the developed world, who are first to respond in bringing aid to these regions. The medical equipment required, as within a battlefield environment, needs to be prepacked and easily transportable but also hard wearing, reliable and easy to operate without compromising medical standards. Equipment such as pulse oximeters are regarded as essential in these environments.
Pulse oximeters are medical devices that monitor the level of oxygen in a patient's blood and alert the medical staff if oxygen levels drop below safe levels. These devices are essential in any setting in which a patient's blood oxygen levels requires monitoring e.g. during surgery, when undergoing emergency care and whilst in recovery.
The importance of Pulse Oximeters is of such a magnitude that the WHO (World Health Organisation) have set in place a Patient Safety Pulse Oximetry project is to improve the safety of anaesthesia care in operating rooms in low countries.
The Pulse Oximetry project aims to improve the safety of operating rooms worldwide with the goal of reducing complications and mortality rates by over 30 percent.
ON Semiconductor offer a full solution for the Pulse Oximeter and have recently added the CAT24C64: 64-kb I2C Serial EEPROM Memory to our portfolio which can be used in conjunction with our BELASIGNA 300: 24 bit Audio Processor for Portable Communication Devices. The BelaSigna® 300 is an ultra-low power, high fidelity monaural audio processor for portable communication devices that delivers superior audio clarity without compromising size or battery life.
Technological progress is seeing the advancement of equipment that functions in both the developed world and, more importantly, the developing nations where medical facilities are often basic, overwhelmed, damaged or completely absent.