Hardware analysis for upgrading the embedded component of Protegemed

Abstract

The Protegemed platform is comprised of an embedded component and several other components designed to capture and analyze electrical currents of electromedical equipment in operating rooms and intensive care units. Differential currents in electromedical equipment have proven to be dangerous for patients. The Protegemed platform can help detect these currents and help research to develop better and safer equipment. In addition, the Protegemed platform can increase electrical safety in surgical procedures. Today, the Protegemed platform uses a 32-bit ARM Cortex M3 microprocessor (MBED with an LPC178 $\mu$C), but there are new features expected and the hardware is not enough, for example, to analyse the voltage and the ground leakage current. This article focused on researching, comparing options and selecting the best option to replace the current hardware of the embedded component. Initially, two groups of hardware options were selected, evaluating some models of each. The components surveyed were Single Board Computers and Mixed Signal Processors. In the second phase, the best option of each group was compared. The comparison takes into special consideration the performance of the system for digital analogue conversion. Research has shown that within Single Board Computing, Udoo Dual Lite is better than the other options analyzed and TM4C1294 is a better component among Mixed Signal Processor options. Between the Udoo Dual Lite and TM4C1294 options, the latter was the best choice to upgrade the embedded component of the Protegemed platform. The current firmware will be adapted for this hardware and the new features of the Protegemed platform can be implemented.