Enabling Engineers to Incorporate Imaging into Single-Use Devices

Using the PREVOYANCE® plug-and-play camera assembly, design engineers are able to innovate and provide imaging where it had not existed previously.

In this Case Study, we explore:

• Applying an Engineer-to-Engineer approach
• Designing with the end in mind
• A real-world example of innovating on the fly to solve pain points
• Utilizing a plug-and-play camera assembly to incorporate imaging where it had not previously existed.

Engineer-to-Engineer Approach

ATL Technology was founded when our CEO, Brad Brown, envisioned a company whose engineers would work directly with customers, specifically other engineers, to develop solutions.

These engineer-to-engineer relationships, he envisioned, would enable the company to better identify customer needs and produce a custom-engineered solution to meet those needs.

This approach would improve the development process for everyone involved because the expertise and capabilities of both sides would be leveraged to produce a custom interconnect solution more quickly and effectively than traditional methods.

Shortly after this realization, ATL was born.

Identifying Pain Points

During each customer visit, whether an initial alignment meeting or during joint development project management meetings, this engineer-to-engineer approach is put into practice when discussing and/or challenging specifications and requirements.

During a recent customer visit between ATL Engineering and “John Doe” Company (the medical device OEM’s name has been redacted for confidentiality reasons), the team was working through the theories of how PREVOYANCE® could be incorporated into devices that have historically not had the capability of generating an image from the distal end of the device.

One of the engineers from “John Doe” caught the vision (pun intended) and began to ask questions and challenge the possibility of what PREVOYANCE® has to offer. He proceeded to explain to the team how there was an aspect of one of their procedures where the physician was operating without an exact understanding of where the tip of their device was impacting anatomy.

ATL’s joint development and manufacturing approach includes designing with the end in mind and discussing a plethora of factors to ensure a solution is developed that will meet the exact needs of the end application. The explanation the engineer provided enabled a discussion of possibilities, use case requirements, and design for manufacturability, and initiated a project where in at some point in the future, a doctor will be better able to see and know they are successfully and positively impacting the patient’s life.

A Plug-and-Play Solution

With a solution-driven mindset, ATL engineers came to the meeting with the newly released PREVOYANCE® camera assembly sample. PREVOYANCE® was developed specifically for medical device applications under an ISO 13485 quality management system so that engineers can quickly pull it out of the box, plug it in, and begin building the next-generation camera-based device.

Utilizing the ATL-based PREVOYANCE® product offering, the engineers collectively began playing with the camera assembly and ultimately, they taped the camera assembly onto one of “John Doe’s” surgical devices, plugged it into the PREVOYANCE® Monitor, and continued discussing with visual detail, how imaging and guidance could be incorporated into their next generation device.

The PREVOYANCE® Monitor (ISP/CCU/VPU) and PREVOYANCE® off-the-shelf camera assembly, coupled with ATL’s vertically integrated complete device manufacturing ability, enables our customers the ability to achieve a complete imaging system.

Excited by what the team was collectively achieving in such a short amount of time, the engineer requested a direct manager come and see what the team had been working on. The manager came and was brought up to speed on what the team was theorizing and the ad-hock construction they had pulled together. After taking time to conceptualize the possibilities for themselves, this manager ultimately brought in additional layers of management to experience what the team had conceptualized in such a short amount of time (neither of the engineering teams entered the meeting with this end in mind).

Based on two teams of engineers bringing their collective expertise together and discussing what the future of imaging could hold, a new configuration of an existing device has been initiated. This result is the perfect example of why ATL was founded.

See it in Action

If you have an idea for incorporating a camera into a device that has historically not had a camera, or want to transition from a reusable to a disposable product offering to provide your customer’s patients with an added layer of safety, consider ATL’s PREVOYANCE® Imaging System.

At the end of the day, ATL wants to positively impact patients. Collectively, through our joint development and manufacturing partnerships with medical device OEMs, we are able to accomplish our mission. We look forward to meeting and discussing how PREVOYANCE® can impact the lives of the patients your devices treat.