The steute business division Meditec and the company SurgiTAIX AG have agreed a development cooperation. Their joint work will include further development of real-time extensions to "Service-oriented device connectivity" (SDC), known as Real-Time SDC (RT-SDC), as well as transformation of the sdcX library into a dual stack.
SDC is an open communication standard which facilitates the interoperability of medical devices. Interoperability refers not only to the manufacturer-independent integration of medical devices, but also to how the devices are used. It improves ergonomic comfort and permits the surgeon to concentrate fully on the surgery, as well as the patient.
The basic standards within the IEEE-11073 family of standards have already been passed. Additional standards, which refer to aspects such as external control and device modelling, are currently under development. Both steute Meditec and SurgiTAIX are involved in developing these standards within the framework of OR.NET e.V. First applications of the family of standards are already in clinical use.
The objective of the newly agreed cooperation is real-time capability for the SDC standard. This feature is required for the HF devices frequently used in electrosurgery, for example. When the surgeon starts or stops the HF device, there can be no time delay. Real-time capability is also crucial for the communication between the devices, e.g. in closed loops.
In the agreed cooperation project, the two partners complement each other perfectly: steute has the SW2.4LE-MED wireless system already established for medical devices, while SurgiTAIX has the quality-assured sdcX software library for implementation of SDC as a communication standard. Furthermore, both companies have been in close contact with the topic SDC for years, and they already know each other from their OR.NET activities.
Marc Stanesby, Managing Director of steute Technologies GmbH & Co. KG: "In our project work with SurgiTAIX, we will profit from their many years of experience with SDC library developments. Building on this, we will be able to concentrate on upgrading SDC to real-time capability, that is RT-SDC."
Dr. Frank Portheine, Managing Director of SurgiTAIX AG: "steute Meditec has comprehensive expertise regarding real-time wireless communication and the control of complex medical devices. From our perspective, this is a good basis for further developing the sdcX library into a real-time library with our dual stack."
At the DMEA 2024, both companies will be presenting the status of their joint project for the first time.
steute Meditec and SurgiTAIX at the DMEA 2024: Hall 3.2, Booth E118 (joint OR.NET booth)
