Developing a Sophisticated Wireless Network Using National Instruments LabVIEW and Compact FieldPoint

Author(s):
Peter Malling - CARDIAC AS

Industry:
Electromechanics/ Electrotechnics, Medical/ Medical Instrumentation, Life Science

Products:
Compact FieldPoint, Lookout, LabVIEW

The Challenge:
Providing immediate access to information for hospital personnel at any location within a facility via a state-of-the-art wireless network.

The Solution:
Developing a system with National Instruments LabVIEW, and Lookout to manage and configure data and route information to the appropriate receiver.

At St. Olavs Hospital, currently under construction in Trondheim, Norway, the first phase of one of the most ambitious healthcare IT projects ever designed is nearing completion. In addition to advanced automation and data management for its staff, the new hospital will feature wireless equipment for access to real-time patient information, including patient journals, nurse call, work lists, alarms, two way communication between nurses and patients, lab analyses, and visuals such as MRIs and x-ray images. This project relies on a highly advanced wireless network to tie all the systems together.

The hospital turned to CARDIAC (Computer-Aided Research, Development, Instrumentation and Control) to help implement this complex system. We have extensive experience with data retrieval from sources such as laboratory instruments and production equipment, as well as with building controls such as lighting, blinds, door openers, and more. Our technology and middleware platform, IMATIS (Integrated Modular Administrative Technical Information System), is the foundation and framework for many of our project solutions.

The IMATIS Platform

IMATIS is based on National Instruments LabVIEW and includes Citadel real time database, Cisco CallManager and Microsoft BizTalk. The St. Olavs network will manage and route all information within the hospital. More than 460 patients will use the IMATIS patient terminal, and 10,000 employees will use the IMATIS portal via wireless PDAs running NI LabVIEW, Cisco IP phones, or the nurses’ station, which will run National Instruments Lookout Web-enabled human-machine interface (HMI) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software.

The IMATIS platform retrieves data from a wide range of sources, processes them in middleware using specified rules, and then distributes messages and information via a portal to various types of clients. IMATIS also includes location based services (position tools) from Cisco so users can locate any wireless device (PDA, IP-Phone and WiFi tag) in real-time within a range of five to 15 meters, depending on the structure of the building. The system is a great example of a practical application of how telecommunications and data are growing together into common infrastructures.

Everything through IP

Part of the St. Olavs Hospital motto is that “everything” will go through IP. Hospital personnel and patients alike will receive an IP telephone, PDA, laptop, or thin-client patient terminal. The system incorporates a core of Web services so the portals on the various units can retrieve the necessary information. The IMATIS message server lets users exchange voice, dictation, e-mail, SMS, and other message types using PCs, PDAs, and IP telephones. The system also can be equipped with alarm and remote control functions. For example, an alarm from a patient-monitoring device can be routed to the nearest doctor in the most suitable format – as an SMS to a mobile phone, as text to an IP telephone, or as a spoken message to a telephone without a display.

The network converts proprietary and analog protocols into IP using National Instruments FieldPoint controllers, so most messages exchanged at St. Olavs Hospital can pass through IP and be managed by the IMATIS message server (which is based on Microsoft BizTalk technology and LabVIEW).

Waveform data from the monitors is also stored in a Citadel database built into the IMATIS platform for redundancy and the data can be forwarded to a Cisco IP phone or a PDA running a LabVIEW portal.

The system’s transmitters and receivers span a wide range of medical equipment, from mechanical signal devices such as emergency pull cords, postal tube systems, and other technical systems, to data and telephone equipment. The system also manages logical alarms (nurse call). For example, if a nurse leaves a department and that department is understaffed (based on predefined assumptions), the alarm is activated. Similarly, using rules that process in real-time, an alarm for cardiac arrest triggers an alarm on the cardiac arrest team’s units, and the team nearest the patient (based on the system’s location parameters) can respond.

And the system can do more than just pass along alarms and messages. Using IMATIS middleware – which uses .NET and BizTalk Web services – doctors and nurses can retrieve patient journals from medical applications on their PCs, IP phones or PDAs. The system also manages patient terminals, which patients can use to choose entertainment, order food, access the Internet, and control light and temperature in their rooms.

The IMATIS portal supplies historic and real-time information that can be presented as Web pages, documents, pictures, and graphs. Hospital staff can also take advantage of tailored reports, graphical user interfaces, services, and adapters using a wide range of tools from National Instruments.

Retrieval of Everything

IMATIS can retrieve data from SCADA software, process databases, relation databases, laboratory equipment, test and measurement devices, and equipment or applications with OPC server functionality. OPC (OLE for process control) interfaces are standardized DCOM (distributed component object model) interfaces in Windows for processing real-time information. The objects contain, for example, name, description, sign-in, and quality, depending on which part standard is used.

The IMATIS platform is also open for third-party developers through IMATIS Developer Suite. Users and partners can build additional functionality using LabVIEW, which means the system also can be supplied as an OEM solution for building tailored modules on the platform.

IMATIS is Cisco Medical Grade certified, and is available as a part of the Cisco Clinical Connection Program, lunched in March 2006 in the US and Europe.

For more information, contact:

Christian Rambech Dahl

CARDIAC AS

Vipeveien 51, 3917 Porsgrunn, Norway

Tel: +47 91 800 700

Fax: +47 35 93 0666

E-mail: christian.dahl@cardiac.no

www.cardiac.no

 

Browse All Case Studies »