Sharpedge Engineering Limited Client Portfolio:
| Medelec home page |
About Medelec
Medelec is currently part of Oxford Instruments. Oxford Instruments develop and manufacture world-class cardiology, neurophysiology and obstetric equipment and accessories. The Medelec name is synonymous with neurophysiology and neurodiagnostic products. Clinical and engineering excellence create the background to exacting electronic design, the latest PC developments and a real understanding of customer needs. |
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Project Information
We were involved with Medelec from November 1991 until July 1992. We assisted Medelec in the development of a new high performance electromyography instrument, the Saphire Premiere. An 80486 PC and an embedded Hitachi H16 micro-controller board were added to the measurement electronics of an existing design, with a custom interface card controlling the transfer of data between them. A custom graphics card merged the display generated by the instrument with that of the PC. A number of XILINX logic cell arrays were used to achieve the necessary component density. The hardware was designed in conjunction with the software team in order to provide the most efficient method of seamlessly integrating an existing product into a PC framework. The result was a stylish, well engineered product which surpassed its predecessors in terms of performance and features. Use of a PC environment allowed substantial additional processing to be performed upon the output of the measurement electronics of an already successful product. The processing capabilities of the PC, together with the colour display provided greatly enhanced diagnostics and reporting capabilities. A modular, menu-based interactive test program was written using Borland C, which allowed the product to be largely self tested. |