Development of an Identification System for Modules used in Medical Environments

Abstract: The objective of this thesis work is to find a suitable automatic identification solution for a medical system that utilizes several types of attachments. The solution should be cost efficient and sustainable enough to endure the medical environment. The thesis work was performed for Sectra Mamea AB in Linköping, Sweden. Five suitable solutions where evaluated on a theoretical basis and the feasibility of three of them were also experimentally verified on a more practical level. The experiments where performed on a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA platform with solution specific prototype boards, which were custom designed during the thesis work. The software development was made in several environments, where programming languages C, C# and VHDL were used. It was found that a solution based on 1-Wire technology was the most cost efficient and best-suited among the candidates. This was proven by validation of the technology and a thorough comparison to the other feasible solutions. This thesis presents the theory and practical results of the research. It is meant to serve as a comprehensive foundation supporting the decisions of future development.