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Patient Positioning Control Software Print E-mail

Patient positioning control system software redesign and support for new development


Activity and interventions


  • Technical software solutions
  • Risk assessment for further FDA approving
  • Project follow-up and coordination between several international teams.

 


 Technical environment


  • vxWorks RTOS
  • Embedded RT Linux
  • KUKA robots
  • Agile development with UML design.

 


Key figures


  • 8 local project members, plus several international partners
  • Project duration: over 3 years
  • Project targets all proton therapy establishments committed by the client (~8 cancer medical centers, treating over 1000 patients each year).

Context

 

Patient positioning is a complex and indispensable task in particle treatment of cancer tumors. The positioning system control software is designed with respect for the corresponding safety norms and is FDA approved for use in medical practice.

 

The positioning control software redesign project started in 2007 and is still ongoing. The newly designed control system will exploit modern Linux system capabilities that will facilitate further development and significantly reduce the costs of system maintenance and end-user support.

 

 

ALTEN's achievements
  • Maintain the legacy software components and provide all necessary support to proton therapy hospitals while the system redesign is in progress.
  • Migrating real-time software components from a vxWorks environment to embedded real-time Linux.
  • Providing Linux drivers for positioning system hardware that was not previously supported by the Linux kernel (contribution to Linux kernel is publicly available under GNU license).
  • FMEA analysis and documentation support for positioning system FDA approval.

 

 

ALTEN's Added value

 

  • Detailed study of initial requirements and technical details considering all safety aspects of the project.
  • Rapid reaction to clients’ requirement changes.
  • Creative and innovative approach that made the client adopt many technical solutions proposed by ALTEN.
  • Control software architectural design suggested by ALTEN allowed painless transferral from legacy vxWorks system to real-time embedded Linux.
  • Effective intercommunication and project follow up by several international teams from US, Germany, France, and China.