I think you’ll find some of the results of the 2014 EMF Survey of Embedded Developers (864 respondents) quite interesting. For example, you can see in Table 1 the driver interfaces used by medical device developers compared with the overall embedded industry.

Table 1: Driver interfaces used. (Click image to enlarge)

In 2014, USB remained the leading choice for driver-interface use among medical device developers, substantially higher than TCP/IP and RS-232 (serial). The question arises as to whether USB is a better choice from a cost containment viewpoint. Such factors as time-to-market, number of developers required per design, and how the cost of delays (behind schedule and cancellations) contribute to the cost of development. Table 2 presents a development cost comparison between USB, TCP/IP, RS-232, and Ethernet.

Table 2: Worldwide comparison of USB, TCP/IP, RS-232, and Ethernet. (Click image to enlarge)

Making some calculations from the data presented in Table 2, it can be seen that USB developments have a cost of development advantage of nearly 67 percent.

A complete paper, “Wireless Protocols and Driver Interfaces Used by Medical Device Developers and Other Verticals” is available for free download at www.emdeddedforecast.com.

Jerry Krasner, Ph.D., MBA is Vice President of Embedded Market Forecasters and its parent company, American Technology International. A recognized authority with over 30 years of embedded industry experience, Dr. Krasner has extensive clinical research and medical industrial experience, including the successful filing of over twenty 510k submissions. He earned BSEE and MSEE degrees from Washington University, a Ph.D. in Medical Physiology/Biophysics from Boston University and an MBA from Nichols College. He has been a visiting professor at the Universidad de Las Palmas (Spain) where he was recognized for his work in neurosciences and computer technology.