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www.us-tech.com
June, 2018
EMS and OEM Collaboration Brings IoT Orthopedic Brace to Market
By Steve Heinzen, VP of Marketing, NEO Tech
sign expertise from outside the four walls of an OEM. A medical OEM’s engineering staff is often much more focused on medical science and pa- tient treatment, making it difficult to muster the design engineering re- sources to create a new, technologi- cally complex product. Bringing an IoT product to mar-
D
ket quickly and effectively favors an ecosystem of technology partnerships that can rapidly deliver compelling so- lutions. The health care system is in- creasingly valuing the efficiency that IoT products can provide. These types of wirelessly connected devices are changing companies’ product strate- gies and entire business models.
Wearable Electronic Brace A medical device provider of ad-
vanced orthopedic care faced the challenge of introducing IoT into one of its knee brace product lines. The company wanted to monitor patients’ activity levels while wearing the IoT- enabled knee brace. This required the integration of both electronic sen- sors and wireless connectivity. The company chose NEO Tech
as its partner to develop the electri- cal engineering and electronics man-
eploying Internet of Things (IoT) technology in medical de- vices frequently requires de-
ufacturing solution to augment its in-house engineering. The joint team faced a range of challenges. They had to select the optimal gyroscope, ac- celerometer and wireless communi- cations interfaces. The package could not be much larger than the size of a quarter. Energy management had to be designed to balance power con- sumption to last at least 12 hours
tion could be kept when Bluetooth communication was not available and transmitted later.
High-Functioning and Compact This particular application
needed to pack high functionality in a compact design. To accommodate this, NEO Tech’s engineers listened to the customer’s needs and require- ments, participated in daily calls and passed design files back and
forth numerous times throughout the process to find the solution that worked best. DFX was not just a benchmark, but a daily interaction to create the optimal design. One of NEO Tech’s keys to a successful de- sign is staying in close contact with the customer and being transparent about the process at all times. The company’s engineers decid-
ed that using SolidWorks and tying it together with Altium would be the best strategy. This enabled the elec- trical and mechanical designs, as well as DFM, to be performed simul- taneously by the closely knit team. This reduced the number of itera- tions and also helped to miniaturize the product to fit the available space. Another crucial factor was com-
without charging. Finally, the prod- uct had to be IP67-compliant to func- tion in dusty and underwater envi- ronments, as well as have adequate data storage so that patient informa-
IoT-enabled orthopedic brace monitors patients’ activity levels and transmits data to doctors.
ponent selection. The design primari- ly used 0402 (1005 metric) parts, but NEO Tech’s engineers were able to place smaller components in areas where they were needed. The compa- ny can also place smaller compo- nents, such as 0201 (0603 metric) and 01005 (0402 metric). The team chose parts with combined function- ality, resulting in the use of fewer parts overall, which was ideal for the compact design. For example, the sensor includ-
ed both an accelerometer and a gyro- scope, with multiple sensors in pack-
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