Hardware and Software Complex for Researching Medical Nanoelectrodes

Abstract

In medical devices required in electrocardiography, electroencephalography, electromyography, electrooculography, etc. the most important element is the medical electrode intended for measuring biopotentials. The optimal selection of electrodes is possible only after testing them to confirm the claimed manufacturers' parameters or determine the real metrological characteristics. Technical characteristics of measuring instruments produced by domestic producers or supplied by foreign companies are regulated by the State Standard GOST 25995-83. Thus, in accordance with this standard, calibration equipment has to have inherent noise level (basic parameter) up to 15 μV in a frequency band up to 10 kHz. However, this requirement does not satisfy modern trends of medical instrument engineering in connection with the appearance of new medical nanoelectrodes on the market, including domestic production. A hardware and software complex for researching medical electrodes (HSCRME) was developed at Tomsk Polytechnic University. It allows measuring the parameters of electrode cells: an electrode potential difference; a drift of the electrode potential difference; a noise voltage; an electromechanical noise; an impedance of electrodes; a polarization voltage. The HSCRME includes a measurement analog channel (AMC) and a digital subsystem being a personal computer. The AMC is configured automatically when the user selects the appropriate mode depending on the measured parameter of the electrode. Cross-platform application framework Qt is the software foundation of the HSCRME. Potential possibilities of the HSCRME are determined by the noise of AMC. The noise applied to the input of AMC did not exceed 1 μV (rms) in the frequency range 0...10 kHz. Verification of the complex was carried out by the inductive voltage divider, which is part of State Standard GAT193-2011. This State Standard is stored in VNIIFTRI (Moscow).