Design of Compact Diagnostic Device for a Public Health Initiative

Challenge

Mindteck engaged with an emerging health diagnostic solutions company to develop the first revision of their flagship portable Point-of-Care device. This global public health initiative innovated by our client required cost-optimisation, re-usability, and reduced development time.

Scope

The battery-operated mobile medical lab device is capable of performing 50-plus medical diagnostics, including haemoglobin, cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure; and rapid diagnostic tests for typhoid, malaria, chikungunya, BMI, and ECG. The project scope included the development of the hardware and firmware architecture in agile mode to serve as a base platform for future product revisions and to support additional diagnostic tests.

Solution

The Mindteck Solution encompassed scalable and modular design, along with agile development of a control board using AM335x SOM with Linux – enabling increased flexibility in terms of processing capability, application development, and future enhancements. The device was also equipped with BLE connectivity to transfer the diagnostic data to a mobile-enabled app. 

The overall design was developed to accommodate the major modules within the available space of the compact housing. The system was designed to ensure that more rapid diagnostic tests could be added simply by upgrading the firmware of the device. In addition, the blood pressure module utilises the non-invasive oscillometric method of blood pressure measurement. 

Lastly, Mindteck migrated the design to production and provided technical services for production support.

Outcome

• The first product revision was completed in a span of 22 weeks and achieved the required cost-effectiveness and reusability of the modular design for future variants.

• The lightweight, compact-designed device provides easy portability to remote locations for healthcare to rural populations.

• Diagnostic data via BLE to the server helps governmental and private healthcare entities to easily analyse affected areas in order to plan the implementation of preventive healthcare.