Industrial Internet of Things connectivity company Real-Time Innovations has added new capabilities to its software RTI Connext DDS, with the aim of advancing the development of complex medical systems.
Based on the Data Distribution Service (DDS) Standard, this new product release will provide medical device manufacturers with the connectivity technology needed to address critical design challenges faced in developing secure, interoperable medical devices for healthcare systems of the future.
Systems of medical devices communicating seamlessly and securely have the opportunity to improve patient outcomes, reduce medical errors and lower healthcare system costs. To realise these benefits, the healthcare industry must collect and transport unprecedented amounts of data in real time, across a large number of diverse devices. For example, in the connected hospital of the future, data will not just be sent to a proprietary onsite server or cloud for analysis, but devices will share real-time data with each other securely and reliably, providing a foundation for AI and Clinical Decision Support (CDS).
Healthcare IoT systems and connected medical devices are highly complex and face a number of challenging issues throughout the design process. Developers of medical-grade products must address five major design challenges:
- Provide syntactic interoperability to lay a foundation for standards-based semantic (i.e., data model) interoperability in the future.
- Ensure a secure system according to governing regulatory bodies, such as the FDA’s Guidance on Cybersecurity.
- Provide access to real-time patient data from a variety of near patient medical devices.
- Enable connected health solutions to scale to thousands of nodes providing critical infrastructure for device manufacturers and providers.
- Provide the foundation for a highly reliable network of devices and applications with no single points of failure
RTI Connext 6 aims to satisfy all of these complex, system-level requirements simultaneously, without the need to make any trade-offs or compromises in the process. For example, developers can build their systems to scale as large as they need to without having to compromise on the level of security. This enables them to design products faster while lowering costs and allowing them to focus on their core competencies – system development, data analysis and user experience.
Connext 6’s new capabilities aims to provide increased security, decreased time to market and product line scalability.
Other new product capabilities include large data distribution, data extensibility and data-centric gateways and enhanced performance.
David Niewolny, director of market development, Healthcare at RTI said: “Of all the industries adopting the IoT, the Healthcare market will have one of the most profound impacts on the quality of human life. We have the opportunity to improve patient care, make treatments more accessible and cost-effective and help generations live longer than ever before. But with this digital revolution, new systems require new technology. With Connext 6 we’ve combined our deep expertise in healthcare with our legacy of mission-critical connectivity software to introduce a medical-grade offering that meets the stringent requirements of the market. From surgical robotics to proton-beam radiation therapy, we are thrilled to work with our healthcare customers to build the connected medical systems of our future.”