From IGSTK

Papers

IEEE Computer "...seeks articles for a special issue to appear in April 2006 on the software engineering and application of software-based medical devices and device systems." (Full CFP). Submissions due 12/1.

IEEE Computer Working Page

I have started an outline for the paper. The outline is a pretty full dump of what IGSTK is about, so in the end I suspect some aspects will bubble to the surface as the key points. The outline has three themes for emphasis:

1. Architecture: Component-based, SM-grounded in safety-critical domain 2. Process: Applying Agile methods in safety-critical application domains 3. Open Source: Can open source be used in safety-critical domains? Yes!

I think with our existing material I can put together something fairly rapidly. However, I would appreciate input in all areas, particularly in describing the applications and on the third theme above on open source. I defer to Luis/David on state machines if either prefers, or can draft it myself. Same for requirements and Brian Blake. Let me know.

Conferences

High Confidence Medical Device Software and Systems (HCMDSS)Workshop June 2 - 3, 2005, Philadelphia, PA

The purpose of this workshop was to bring together well-respected software and systems engineers that develop software for medical devices and applications. Several relevant presentations were made to motivate discussions which led to the main purpose of the forum, which was to construct a comprehensive working paper that dealt with 7 areas:

WG 1: Foundations for Integration of Medical Device Systems/Models (this was my area) WG 2: Distributed Control & Sensing of Networked Medical Device Systems WG 3: Patient Modeling and Simulation WG 4: Embedded RT networked Infrastructure WG 5: High-confidence Medical Device Software Development and Assurance Medical Practice-driven Models WG 6: Certification & Requirements

The working groups create presentations and are tasked to create a working paper in the next few months. The working paper will be delivered to the NCO/NITRD to help them direct federal agencies that fund programs in this area.

Here is a link to my working group: ftp://ftp.cis.upenn.edu/pub/htdocs/hcmdss/Slides/hcmdss/summary/WG1.pdf

The slides from the entire workshop are here: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/hcmdss/schedule.php3

Brian's Take I tried to be really active in my working group (you'll see IGSTK's influence in the slides). I was surprised that I was one of 3 people in a group of almost 10 that had any interaction with real applications and we all know how thin that is (smile). I was surprised at how many big name software engineering people were there (i.e. Rothermel, Dwyer, Stankovic). I was equally surprised at how few the real medical staff were.

Our working group focused on a number of standards for component interfaces. Of course DICOM, but they also mentioned standards that I was now aware had a strong medical component flavor (i.e. IHE, IEEE 1073, and HL7)

I had a long talk with Steven Dimmer, Vice President of Reseach and Development at Calypso Medical Technologies. He knows Kevin Sr. and is still very interested to incorporate there technologies with IGSTK. If I remember correctly it is a "wireless" tracker. I may have oversimplified it.

Dr. Insup Lee (workshop coordinator) is alot like Kevin Sr. Although he feeds you well, he packs a really full day (smile). I spoke with him one afternoon as well.

All in all, I learned a great deal collected a bunch of cards. The first day, I also sat down with the directors at the NCO and plan to have a lunch with them sometime this summer. Although they don't have the money, the do know where to get it. Perhaps we can invite them to one of our meetings, if appropriate.