Blood Donation and Blood Collection Systems using Single Board Computers

Author - Laura

Last week was National Blood Week 2015, which aimed to significantly increase the number of blood donors around the UK. NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has revealed that 40% fewer new blood donors came forward across England and North Wales last year to give blood compared to this time a decade ago.

So last night, along with my blood donor buddy Toni, I went along to the session at Swindon Town Football Club and donated a full pint of the good stuff. Apparently my lovely B Positive blood is in demand as it’s quite rare. Only 9% of the UK donor population has this group, so it’s really important to keep donating whenever I can; at least 3 times a year.

The wonderful people at NHS Blood and Transplant collect 1.8 million units of blood each year from over 23,000 blood donation sessions across England and North Wales. Blood donation is a fairly simple process. Once the donor carer has done the relevant checks, and the needle is inserted, blood is collected in a bag out of sight. An agitator scale constantly wiggles, weighs and measures your donation and stops automatically when your donation is complete. A pint of blood normally takes about 7-8 minutes to collect. Easy peasy.

But the technology behind blood collection isn’t quite as straightforward…


VersaLogic Computers Keep Automated Blood Collection System Flowing

Automated blood collection systems are used to collect a combination of red blood cells, platelets, and plasma from donors. These computerised systems minimise operator intervention, integrate key functions, and provide important data at a moment's notice, thereby enhancing the efficiency of blood centre operations.

At the heart of one of the most widely used automated blood collection systems in the USA are two VersaLogic Single Board Computers (SBCs). The system relies on one VersaLogic board to perform control functions, while the other board is used as a safety computer. The state-of-the-art system uses cell separators that allow for the division of the various blood components in a high-speed centrifugal field while the device is still connected to the donor.

This process allows collection of any combination of red blood cells, platelets, and plasma while returning unneeded components to the donor, thereby allowing more frequent donations. The high reliability and long-term availability of VersaLogic SBCs were key elements in the selection of the VersaLogic solution. In addition, VersaLogic accommodated customisation requests that allowed communication between the CPU board, multiple peripherals, and the manufacturer’s I/O platform.



Donated blood is a lifeline for many people needing long-term treatments, not just in emergencies. Your blood's main components: red cells, plasma and platelets are vital for many different uses.

More donors are needed. You won't miss it when you give it; but patients could miss it if you don't.

If you've never donated before, or if you have but it's been a while, you can register at blood.co.uk and book your first appointment online.

Have a great weekend!

General Standards - Frequently Asked Questions

General Standards Corporation develops and manufactures the highest-performance Analog I/O, Digital I/O and Serial I/O products based upon a variety of buses such as PMC, PCI, VME, PC/104 and cPCI.

Their extensive product line (currently over 70 different products) includes I/O boards, high speed links, cables,and software drivers, all designed to increase your system performance, improve your software integration, and maximise your development productivity.

As part of their ongoing commitment to customer satisfaction General Standards has put together answers to their most frequently asked technical support questions.

You can also visit the website, www.generalstandards.com, for the latest product brochures and upcoming product announcements.

If you'd like to see the technology in the flesh please visit us on Stand S4-453 at DSEI 2015, where we will be showcasing a number of General Standards products.

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166 or send us an email - info@sarsen.net

UPCOMING EVENTS!

Sarsen Technology takes part in various events throughout the year across a number of markets and technology sectors, sometimes as a visitor and quite often as an exhibitor. This is just a snapshot of our upcoming events, so if you would like more information please contact Laura Biddiscombe for details.

• June 9th - VentureFest, Bristol - A one-day event showcasing Bristol and Bath’s most innovative and enterprising companies and start-ups. This is a free event, however you will need a ticket.


• June 17th -  NMI Model Driven Engineering 2015 - As a member of NMI we get access to some great events. This one, held at Thales in Crawley, is mostly focussed on electronics and software domains, reflecting the interests of NMI members and guests.


• September 15th-18th - DSEI 2015 - DSEI brings together the entire defence and security industry to source the latest equipment and systems, develop international relationships, and generate new business opportunities. Sarsen Technology will be exhibiting within the UK Pavilion on stand S4-453, where you can see an exciting range of embedded technology from BittWare, Ecrin Systems, Extreme Engineering, General Standards and Tech Source.


• October 21st - 22nd - Embedded Design Show 2015 - Following last years' successful exhibition we are pleased to once again be taking part alongside the team from DAVE Embedded Systems. You can find us on Stand G32, where we will be showcasing the complete range of SoMs from DAVE Embedded Systems, based on FPGA technology, ARM Cortex-A architecture, Freescale and Texas Instruments processors and Xilinx SoC.

FIPS 140-2 and Common Criteria Certified Router Featuring Cisco IOS Technology

Author - Laura

Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) is commited to providing high quality, cost-effective hardware and software solutions for the embedded systems market. Alongside their extensive range of high-performance single board computers (SBCs) and rugged, extended temperature systems X-ES provides a range of rugged routers running Cisco™ IOS® IP routing software.

Designed to meet the needs of the most demanding and Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) constrained mobile and embedded networking applications each router supports four routed, high-speed Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, enabling the routers to serve as an aggregation point for on-demand network connectivity in mobile or fixed deployments. The X-ES routers extend the Cisco enterprise infrastructure beyond the reach of traditional fixed-network infrastructure for military, oil and gas, mining, smart grid, heavy construction, transportation, homeland security, public safety, and disaster recovery applications.

• XPedite5205 Embedded Services Router (ESR) - a PMC/XMC-based router
• XPand6004 - a rugged packaged router in a Small Form Factor (SFF) enclosure
• Cisco 5940 - a 3U CompactPCI router

On September 10th, 2014 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cryptographic Module Validation Program issued Certificate #2242 for the X-ES XPedite5205 XMC/PMC Cisco IOS® Embedded Services Router (ESR). The XPedite5205 has been validated to FIPS 140-2 Overall Level 1 by an NVLAP-accredited Cryptographic Module Testing (CMT) laboratory. Additionally, this ESR has been validated to Roles, Services, and Authentication Level 2, and Design Assurance Level 3.

On November 17th, 2014 the National Information Assurance Partnership issued the Common Criteria Certificate for the XPedite5205 XMC/PMC Cisco IOS® Embedded Services Router (ESR) for completion of the evaluation in accordance with the Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme (CCEVS). The XPedite5205 satisfies the Assurance Activities criteria as defined within the Common Criteria (CC) Protection Profile for Network Devices, Version 1.1 and Protection Profile for Network Devices VPN Gateway Extended Package, Version 1.1.

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166 or send us an email with your enquiry - info@sarsen.net

FINTECH Altera FPGA Solutions

High performance computing using FPGA technology is a key technology for the financial services industry. High frequency automated financial trading uses models and simulations to provide real-time assistance in decision making.

BittWare’s ultra-low latency hardware is based on Altera’s industry leading Arria 10, Stratix V, and Arria V FPGAs and provides CPU offload along with the highest performance transceivers. These boards are a robust solution for Financial Acceleration applications, providing the ultimate in low latency with up to 100GigE straight to the FPGA (no external PHY) and optional TCP/IP offload engine.

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BittWare offers FPGA-based PCIe COTS solutions to address the challenges of developing financial applications for the financial acceleration/HFT (High Frequency Trading) market.

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As well as offering high performance FPGA hardware for financial trading Sarsen can call on the expertise of a number of consultants who specialise in software and hardware integration, allowing us to provide a complete solution for your low latency and high speed financial trading requirements.

One of the companies we work with is PA Consulting, which has just introduced hardware accelerator solutions specifically for low latency networks. The Hardware Accelerator identifies bottlenecks in your current infrastructure, and highlights where improvements to transaction speed and volume can be made, for example by speeding up algorithms or by removing shared interfaces such as Ethernet/IP connections.

Contact us to find out more about the range of FPGA solutions we can offer for the Fintech market space - info@sarsen.net or 01672 511166.

VersaLogic EBX Single Board Computers - The Next Generation

Author - Laura

As part of their ongoing mission to provide reliable, cutting edge Single Board Computers (SBC) for the most demanding applications, VersaLogic has introduced two new EBX format boards.

Designed as a migration path for the Mamba, Python and Sidewinder boards, which are all now in the End of Life phase of their life cycle, the Anaconda and the Copperhead both offer a variety of I/O interfaces, multiple expansions buses, and thermal management options providing systems designers with flexibility and lower overall system cost.

VersaLogic's embedded computers are designed for the most demanding applications. From ultra small (credit card size) to industry-standard PC/104, EPIC and EBX format boards, their x86 compatible computers are used whenever reliability counts. They thrive in the harshest environments including temperature extremes (-40° to +85°C), shock, vibration, and humidity.

All VersaLogic computers are x86 compatible, allowing you to use standard Windows or Linux operating systems and your familiar development tools to create applications. Careful design and parts selection enables VersaLogic to manufacture most products for 5 to 10 years. VersaLogic backs every product with a 5-year minimum production life guarantee, as well as an industry leading 5 year warranty on all SBCs and expansion modules.

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166 or send us an email.

DAVE Embedded Systems is a Certified Member of Xilinx Alliance Program

Xilinx Alliance Program Members are qualified companies worldwide that have a proven track record of delivering products and services on Xilinx programmable platforms. Members have to demonstrate qualified expertise on the latest Xilinx devices and implementation techniques and consistently deliver high quality products and services on Xilinx programmable platforms.

DAVE Embedded Systems has been certified as a member of the Xilinx Alliance Program, following their success with the new Xilinx Zynq-based BORA and BORA Express modules.

Certified Members have invested in passing a comprehensive 320-point review of their technical, business, quality, and support processes and have committed engineers to passing the same rigorous training used by Xilinx Field Application Engineers worldwide. Certified Member engineers annually refresh Certification training to ensure they have updated expertise on the latest products and technologies from Xilinx.

For more information about DAVE Embedded Systems and the Xilinx Member Alliance Program please contact the Sarsen Team on 01672 511166, or email us with your question.