The Future is Mobile and Wireless

Microsystems target medical

Microsystems target medical

Microsystems technology such as micropumps for lab-on-a-chip applications and radio frequency identification tags for the life cycle management of medical devices are playing a vital role in meeting the increasing demand for mobile and wireless devices. Developers and suppliers of high-tech solutions such as these include the 300 small and medium-sized companies and institutes that are members of the IVAM Microtechnology Network. IVAM is an international association of companies and institutes in the fields of microtechnology, nanotechnology and advanced materials. It has been collecting economic data from its members since 2002. During this time the medical market has been top of the list of member companies’ target industry sectors.

Now, with the virtual collapse of the automotive industry, even more of those companies are targeting their components and systems at medical device manufacturers to help them create products that are more competitive, says IVAM’s Managing Director, Uwe Kleinkes. Microsystems developers expect growing markets, especially with mobile, telemedical devices.

Professor Dr Benno Kotterba, a senior adviser to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the field of micro medicine says, “Currently, there is a large scale test with telemedical devices for patients with cardiac insufficiency at the Berlin Charité hospital.1 From the technical point of view telemedical devices do work. But one of these days someone has to pay for this service. The tendency to pay for those devices privately is rather low at the moment in Germany.” However, a few year’s ago this was also true for extra Internet services available via mobile phone and today people willingly pay for push e-mail services. The microsystems community is preparing for the future and eventually small and mobile telemedical devices will be in widespread use.

Cross fertilisation of ideas

Microsystems technology will play an important role in the manufacture of these devices, which require components and systems with low power consumption, low weight and small package dimensions. Patient data stored on mobile devices could mean the difference between life and death and thus must be protected from accidental loss. One solution is to fit a freefall detector on the device, which shuts down the system if it falls to the floor; acceleration sensors for this purpose have been employed in the automotive industry for a number of years.

Energy harvesting is also being developed for mobile applications. This works by obtaining the power to drive some of the functions such as sending and data transfer from the device’s environment. Examples include mechanical energy from vibration; thermal energy from friction sources; light energy captured from sunlight via photo sensors or solar panels; and electromagnetic energy from inductors, coils and transformers.2

Mobile diagnosis and therapy are of such great importance that the Compamed Spring Convention titled, “High-Tech Trends in Medical Technology,” on 19 May 2009 in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, will be dedicated to this topic. A forerunner to the main Compamed event held alongside Medica in November 2009, the convention is organised by IVAM and HSG-IMIT (www.hsg-imit.de [5]) in cooperation with Messe Düsseldorf. The line-up of speakers includes representatives from the European Commission, Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH, IMTEK Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik, Philips Research and Das Kompetenzzentrum Minimal Invasive Medizin & Technik Tübingen - Tuttlingen e.V..

IVAM also organises the High-Tech for Medical Devices pavillion at Compamed, which takes place on 18–20 November 2009 in Düsseldorf, Germany. On display will be many of the latest innovations from the microsystems community. Last year’s event set a new record with 48 exhibiting companies and institutes. Those interested in exhibiting in the joint pavilion in 2009 can register for this at www.ivam.eu [6].

Information supplied by the IVAM Microtechnology Network, Emil-Figge-Strasse 76, D-44227 Dortmund, Germany, tel. +49 231 9742 168, e-mail: info@ivam.de [9] www.ivam.de [6]