Medical Applications User Guide (pdf) - Freescale Semiconductor

Introduction
1.1
Freescale Offers Technology for Life
According to the World Health Organization there are over one billion overweight adults, 860
million chronic disease patients and over 600 million elders age 60 or older1 . Combine that with a
study from the U .S . Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showing modern medical breakthroughs
have raised the average global life expectancy in developed nations to over 75 years2 . With a
large percentage of the total healthcare spend addressing chronic disease, the issue of runaway
healthcare costs and the need to abate them has never been more significant . Proactive and
preventative approaches to healthcare are required .
Semiconductor technology will continue to play a critical role in the development of new technologies
that assist with patient monitoring, diagnostics, therapy and imaging . Freescale is focused on what
we can do as a semiconductor company to not only help extend life, but to promote a better quality
of life . By designing products with the highest safety and reliability standards, healthcare devices using
Freescale technologies work when it counts . Helping to extend life, improve the quality of life, and
providing technologies that enable proactive health and wellness monitoring, Freescale’s technologies
are powering future healthcare devices to benefit everyone who is in contact with this technology . This
is what we mean when we say, “Freescale offers technology for life .”
These market factors along with advancements in semiconductor technologies provide the potential for
transforming the care that we all receive . Medical imaging technology commonly found in radiology or
imaging centers, can now be found in the field—ambulatory or combat situations . Clinical equipment
formerly relegated to the hospital or doctor’s office is now moving into the home . Portable medical
equipment such as blood pressure monitors, blood glucose meters, and weight scales are now
connecting to data aggregators or hubs and transmit your personal health data to the medical cloud
where it is stored in a secure place . All types of healthcare equipment are being pushed from their roots
in clinics or hospitals and into the home .
Developers of medical devices face several challenges . The need to balance processing
requirements with power consumption, the need to provide a faster time to market, and the need
to navigate the regulatory environment are common to all healthcare applications . Freescale designs
a range of embedded products and applicable reference designs so that developers can choose
MCUs, MPUs, analog, sensors, and wireless solutions to meet the requirements of their designs .
Introduction
freescale .com/medical
1 World Health Organization who.int/research/en/
2 CDC, U.S National Center for Health Statistics
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