BIO MEDICAL INSTRUMENTATION

By: Asst.Prof. Harshul Thakur

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Biomedical engineering (BME) is the application of
engineering.
This field seeks to close the gap
between engineering and medicine.
It combines the design and problem solving skills of
engineering with medical and biological sciences to
advance healthcare treatment,
including diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy.

BIO INSTRUMENTATION

Bio- of course, denotes something related with life.

Bio instrumentation implies measurement of biological

variables.

Bioinstrumentation is the use of bio-electronic instruments for

the recording or transmission of physiological information.

Biomedical Instrumentation involves devices designed and

connected together in a scientifically appropriate manner to
sense (or capture) signals (e.g: electromagnetic, mechanical,
thermal, acoustic) and process them for human display and/or
further processing for control, therapy etc. like Digital
Thermometer senses the temp. using electronic sensor then
filter, amplify and convert into analog quantity and display.

KEY ROLLS

BioMedical Engineer
A person working in research or development in the
interface area of medicine and engineering.
(Develop instruments and measurement devices)

Clinical Engineer
A practitioner working with physicians and patient.
( Proper use of instruments during patient care)

Bio Medical Equipment Technician(BMET)

A person having knowledge about the theory of
operation and biomedical equipments.
(Capabilities like installation, calibration and
maintenance..)

MAJOR PROBLEM

Communication gap between engineers and

medical professionals.

Development and use of biomedical instruments

must be a joint effort of engineers or technicians
and the physician or nurse, every effort must
consider to avoid or overcome this
Communication.

BIO METRICS

The branch of science that includes the measurement

of physiological variables and parameters is known as
biometrics. Bio medical instrumentation provides the
tools by which these measurements can be achieved.

In the design and specification of medical

instrumentation system, each of the following factors
should be considered:
Range, Sensitivity, Linearity, Hysteresis, Frequency
Response, Accuracy, S/N ratio, Stability, Isolation and
Simplicity.

RANGE
The range of an instrument is generally considered to
include all the levels of input amplitude & frequency
over which the device is expected to operate.
The objective is to provide an instrument that will give
a usable reading from the smallest expected value
of the variable or parameter being measured to the
largest.

SENSITIVITY

The sensitivity of an instrument determines how

small a variation of a variable or parameter can be
really reliably measured.

LINEARITY

The degree to which variations in the output of an

instrument follow input variations is referred to as
the linearity of the device.

HYSTERESIS

It is a characteristic of some instruments where by

a given value of the measured variable results in a
different reading when reached in an ascending
direction from that obtained when it is reached in a
descending direction .
(Mechanical friction in a meter)

FREQUENCY RESPONSE

The frequency response of an instrument in its

variation in sensitivity over the frequency range of
the measurement. It is important to display a wave
shape that is a faithful reproduction of the original
physiological signal.

An instrument system should be able to respond

rapidly enough to reproduce all frequency
components of the waveform with equal sensitivity.

ACCURACY
Accuracy
Closeness to the true value of measurand.
1.

ACCURACY
It is a measure of systemic error. Errors can occur in a multitude of
ways. Although not always present simultaneously, the following
errors should be considered.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Errors due to tolerances of electronic components.

Mechanical errors in meter movements.
Component errors due to drift or temperature variations.
Errors due to poor frequency response.
Errors due to change in atmospheric pressure or temperature.
Reading errors due to parallel inadequate illuminations or
excessively wide ink traces on a pen recording.

Two additional sources of Errors are

Correct instrument zeroing or making correct baseline.
The effect of the instrument on the parameter to be measured &
vice versa. ( Specially in measurements in living organism )

SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO

It is important that the signal to noise ratio be high

as possible. (Noise due to hospital environment, inference
due electromagnetic, electrostatic or may be due to poor
grounding )

STABILITY

In control engineering, Stability is the ability of a

system to resume a steady state conditions
following a disturbance at the input rather than be
driven into uncontrollable oscillation.

ISOLATION

Instrument does not produce a direct electrical

contact between subject and ground.

Electrical Isolation is to be made for avoiding

interference between different instruments used
simultaneously. It can be achieved by using
magnetic or optional coupling technique or using
radio telemetry.

Telemetry is also used where movement of the

person or animal to be measured.

SIMPLICITY

All systems & instruments should be as simple as

possible to eliminate the chance of component or
human error.

PRECISION
A measure of the degree of agreement within a group
of measurements repeatability of a system(however no guarantee of accuracy)
Results have Low scatter excellent precision

ADDITIONAL FACTORS THAT ADD DIFFICULTY OF

OBTAINING VALID MEASUREMENT

1. Safety Considerations.
2.The environment of the hospital in which these
measurements are performed.
3. The medical person usually involved in
measurements.

THE BASIC OBJECTIVES OF ANY INSTRUMENTATION

SYSTEM GENERALLY FALL INTO ONE OF THE
FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

Information Gathering System.

Diagnosis System.

Measurements are made to detect and correction of some

malfunction of the system. Classified as Troubleshooting
equipment.

Evaluation System.

To measure natural phenomena.

To determine the ability of a system to meet its functional

requirements. These could classified as proof of
performance and quality control tests.

Monitoring System.
To monitor some process or operation, to obtain continuous
information about the state.

Control System.

Automatically control of operation of a system based on

changes in one or more of the internal parameters or in the
output of the system.

BIO MEDICAL INSTRUMENTATION CAN GENERALLY

BE CLASSIFIED INTO TWO MAJOR TYPES :
1. Clinical Instrumentation .
2.Research Instrumentation.

CLINICAL INSTRUMENTATION
Basically devoted to the area of

Diagnosis

Patient care

Treatment of Patients ( Therapeutic use )

RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION
It is used primarily in the search for new knowledge
related to various systems that compose the human
organism.
Some instruments can be used in both areas.

MEASUREMENTS
Biomedical instrumental measurements are
divided in to two categories.
1.In Vivo
2.In Vitro
1. IN VIVO MEASURMENTS In vivo measurements
are made on or within the living organism itself.

e.g. A device inserted into the blood stream to

measure the PH of the blood directly.
2. IN VITRO MEASURMENTS In vitro
measurements are made outside the body , even
though it relates to the functions of the body.

e.g. Measurements of PH of sample of blood,

that has been drawn from patients body.

MAN INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM

A Measuring system is required to compare a quantity with a
standard or to provide an output that can be related to the quantity
being measured.

Components of the Man Instrument System

Subject: The human being or whom measurements are made.

Stimulus: That evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ.

Output

Input

Sensor
Measurand

Signal
conditioner

Display

Recorder

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DEFINITIONS

Sensor:
is a device that detects a change in a physical stimulus
and turns it into a signal which can be measured or
recorded

A Transducer

is a device that transfers power from one system to

another in the same or in a different form.

Signal conditioning:

Amplifying, wave shaping, filtering, rectifying,

Display Equipment : The electrical output of a signal

conditioning equipment must be converted in to form that
can understand and perceived easily.
Recorder: To store the measured information and
process it any time.

WHY DO WE NEED INSTUMENTATION IN MEDICAL

FIELD
Diagnosis and therapy depend heavily on the use of medical
instrumentation. Like
ENG(electronystagmography),ECG(electrocardiography),EMG
(electromyography),ERG(electroratinography
EEG(electroencephalography),MEG(magnetoencephalography
), MRI(magnetic resonance imaging),
Analysis of data, its storage and Transmission can be done
Collection of data qualitative and/or quantitative
Intelligent control is possible
Decision making and Treatment planning based on the
decision
Wide Operating range and Applications are flexible

PHYSIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS OF THE BODY

To obtain the valid measurements from a living

human being, it is necessary to have some
understanding of the subject on which the
measurements are being made.

With in the human body can found different types of

signals each of which communicates with the
external environment and internally with the other
systems of the body.

TYPES OF SIGNALS TO BE MEASURED BY BIOMEDICAL

INSTRUMENTS

Biomedical signal are those which convey information

regarding Human body and biomedical instruments detects
and measure those signals. Types of signals are as follows
Bio-Electric signals :- generated by the cell membrane
potential .
Bio- Acoustic Signals :- e.g. blood flow in heart, air flow in
lungs generate acoustic signals
Bio-Mechanical signals :- it includes all types of motion,
movement, pressure and flow signals. e.g. chest walls
movement during breathing

CONTD.
Bio- Chemical Signals:- generates from the chemical analysis
e.g.CO2 and O2 pressure.
Bio-Magnetic Signals:- very weak signals from heart, brain,
lungs measured by Magneto-encephalograph.
Bio-Optical Signals:- Blood oxygenation is obtained by
measuring the light scattering from tissue at different
wavelength
Bio-Impedance Signal:- injecting current in a tissue and
measuring the voltage drop gives us skin resistance, blood
vol., blood distribution etc.

SOURCE OF BIOMEDICAL SIGNALS