Project Overview
This project was completed before the formation of TriSystem Solutions. It is representative of the service offered by TriSystem Solutions, as Keeton, Dylan, and Gerhardus completed the majority of the technical work for the client during the engagement period. The scope of work involved the end-to-end research, design, development, and iterative refinement of a smart textile biomedical device, and we delivered on the software, electrical, and mechanical fronts.
During the engagement period, we supported the project through early research and exploratory development and into pilot deployments with customers. This involved significant end-to-end assessments of current system performance,
troubleshooting and ideation for improvements, and then complete implementation of those improvements as real-world solutions. As the company grew and our scope of work increased, we introduced additional engineering resources
into the company, supported the expansion of production capacity for outgoing devices, and continued refining the product.
Following Our Process
This project involved a single interdependent core technology stack which we subdivided into software, electrical, and mechanical pillars. By leveraging our experience across multiple domains, we were able to develop all three pillars simultaneously and carry the tech stack well into the refinement phase.
Research
We evaluated the customer's existing technology, found room for improvement based on benchtop testing, captured experience from the existing manufacturing processes, and continuously revisited this phase as data came back from customer deployments.
Examples of Solutions Delivered
Merging Rigid Electrical Hardware with Textile Surfaces
Early during the research phase, a major identified challenge was the interface between incoming electrical connections and the smart textile surface. Multiple concepts were identified as potential solutions, and the image shows one of the concepts which we carried to hardware development. It consisted of a tapered, semi-flexible rubberized mechanical housing for an onboard electrical device which enabled a critical software function.
Printed Circuit Board Design
To enable the electrical functionality of the product, we designed a series of PCBs. An early member of this series is pictured. Each PCB included features for testing different desired functionality, collecting data on product performance, or otherwise enabling iterative, data-driven design improvements. By doing the electrical design work ourselves and closely tying it to the software and mechanical work, we were able to keep costs low and development cycles fast.
Fast Iterative Development
After Design, we moved into making simple bench prototypes. This allowed for fast testing with custom PCBs and Firmware. Fast iterations were key here before committing to large-scale designs that we would move forward with. Testing began as soon as we had our PCBs in hand, immediately leading into integration for MVP testing with a product for end users. If we had issues, we caught them early and were able to go back into research/design and continue to improve our development process to create a better final product.
Custom Technician Field Units
As the prototype hardware matured and we entered the refinement phase, we identified that we wanted to collect as much real-world data as possible. To achieve this, we built a quick Technician Unit to be brought on-site and allow for data to be read from the deployed product. The data collected from these technicians allowed us to make informed decisions about how to better improve future iterations of the product.
Multi-Path Problem Solving
The data collected in the field allowed us to incrementally improve the design of the product, while in parallel, we continued to work on multiple designs with alternate technologies to solve the problem. Initial research brought us to a design that we completed, but that didn't mean we had the best product we could make. We kept time and cost down on these side projects in order to test the viability of the alternate technologies as compared to the design we moved forward with. This allowed us to ensure that the best product was delivered without compromising forward motion on the original development processes
Output & Effect
By the conclusion of the project, we delivered a finished, smart textile medical device for the company which enabled:
Multiple
Successful
Pilot Deployments
Successfully closed
Investment
Round
