5-Day Engineering Design Review Sprint

Is your engineering team wrestling with a technology problem?

Instead of being frustrated or hiring more senior staff, there’s a better way.

Non-invasive Blood Flow Sensing – A Case Study

Our customer came to us with a sensing problem. The pre-packaged sensor they were using to characterize bloodflow was providing noisy raw data and their signals analysis couldn’t support a conclusion whether their concept worked or failed. We reviewed the anatomical requirements with our customer and the sensor’s datasheet to identify the performance limitations. We spent a couple of days researching alternative sensors and found an unpackaged sensor component with 100x the sensitivity and frequency performance. Because it was “unpackaged”, it wasn’t designed around a specific application, so it needed additional circuitry and firmware drivers to be developed before it could start producing usable data.

Outcome of the Design Review

We recommended changing to the new sensor because of the performance gains. We provided the needed part numbers and a “blueprint” to integrate with their current data collection system. This was outside their wheelhouse, so we followed up the Design Review with an additional phase of work to design and fabricate a prototype circuit board along with the firmware drivers to fully integrate it into their software so they could continue their work. We included a real-time viewer to quickly assess sensor placement and support demonstrations. The new PCB and clean sensor data allowed them to quickly build an appropriate signals analysis algorithm, collect patient data, and prove the concept.

What is the process for a 5-day Sprint?

• Day 1: 2-Hour Call – We’ll start the Engineering Design Review Sprint with a 2-hour call (or meeting if you’re local), including a team of experienced senior engineers, for a review of where things stand and we’ll start asking questions. The first step is to define the problem and what a successful outcome should look like.
• Day 2: Collaborative Assessment – We’ll assess what’s not working and what you may have already tried. If it helps to be in front of your hardware, you can ship it to us or we can come to you. We love digging into the nerdy details. Travel beyond central Maryland will likely incur additional costs. 
• Day 3 & 4: Independent Research – Following the meeting, we’ll perform our own research. This may include time reviewing your CAD models, code, or circuit schematics, or perhaps it’s research into alternative off-the-shelf components.
• Day 5: Recommended Action Plan – Every problem is different, but we defined a “successful outcome” on our first call. The most likely outcome is a detailed list of actionable recommendations that you can implement. You can take it from there, or we can discuss how we can continue to be involved.
• Guaranteed Results – It’s simple. If it turns out we can’t help or we don’t provide actionable recommendations, we’ll refund your money. Guaranteed.