Medical Sensor Development 

Biosensing plays an important role in the advancement of patient care. Understanding a variety of technology building blocks allows a development team to create unique sensors from the best-suited technology for the application.

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) is an independent R&D firm that provides assistance in the development of medical devices and systems. With a technical and support staff of over 3,000, we can assemble a multidisciplinary team to develop and integrate new sensors. We manage projects with the understanding that time to market is critical.

The Bioengineering Section is ISO 13485:2003 certified and compliant with the FDA Quality System Regulation. SwRI engineers and scientists are experienced in
developing high-quality documentation necessary for 510K, PMA, and EU submissions.

Sensor Applications

SwRI has experience designing sensors in the following areas:

• MEMS
• Electromagnetic
• Piezoelectric
• Ultrasound
• Acoustics
• Seismic
• Optics
• Doppler
• RF/MicrowaveExperience

Sensor Types

SwRI has developed the following types of sensors:

• Force
• Displacement/Motion
• Cardiac signals
• Chemical
• Biological
• Temperature
• Fluidics
• Catheters
• In vivo sensing

Heat stroke, a serious and sometimes fatal illness, can occur in individuals subjected to extreme heat and humidity without protection. For the U.S. Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, SwRI engineers developed the world’s smallest environmental heat stress monitor (HSM) for use during military training exercises. The HSM (U.S. Patent 6,111,501) is equipped with sensors to measure air temperature, wind speed, solar radiation, humidity, and barometric pressure. Algorithms contained in the HSM combine environmental readings with programmed personal data to calculate optimum work and rest cycles and hourly water intake requirements for an individual. This innovative device is now being used by an Australian mining company to monitor the health of workers removing gold and silver from deep shaft mines.

This flyer was published in February 2007. For more information about Medical Sensor Development, contact Keith A. Bartels, Manager, Automation and Data Systems Division, Phone (210) 522-6062, Fax (210) 684-6147, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510.

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