MedTech Skills Overview

BME254L - Spring 2026

Dr. Mark Palmeri, M.D., Ph.D.

Duke University

January 6, 2026

MedTech Skills Overview

What is MedTech?

BME in Industry

Why skills?

• Do not want design ideas to be limited by what you “think” you can actually make!

• As the engineer, you bring both solution creativity and execution to the table.

• Most of the engineering curriculum has been ``book heavy’’ to date.

  • Functional Decomposition

  • CAD/EDA (simulation, PCB layout)

  • Fabrication & Integration (3D printing, soldering, fastening, mounting)

  • Verification & Validation: testing to specifications

  • MCU Firmware Development (C, git)

CAD (Computer Aided Design)

Why CAD?

• Formally capture 2D projection sketches \(\rightarrow\) 3D parts.

• Dimension consistency checks.

• Assemble multiple parts to check fit, interfaces and simulate stress/strain/movement.

• Translate to physical realization (e.g., 3D print, mil).

• General technical drawings for manufacturing.

• Capture design history, while facilitating iteration / change.

Onshape

• We will be using Onshape, a cloud-based CAD package with a similar workflow to SolidWorks.

• You will be automatically registered to join Duke’s Onshape team.

• Tutorials are available through https://learn.onshape.com.

Part Design

Mechanical Drawings

Design Example: mHealth Tympanometer

EDA: Electronics Design Automation

Why EDA?

• Formalize circuit schematics.

• Validate circuit behavior (design rules and SPICE simulations).

• Convert circuit to printed circuit board (more space efficient and permanent than a breadboard).

• Capture design history and facilitate rapid iteration.

• Generate 3D “parts” to integrate with CAD.

KiCad

• https://kicad.org

• A completely open-source alternative to Eagle.

• Just as capable as Altium Designer (to a point); similar workflow.

• Integrated SPICE simulator.

Schematic Capture

PCB Layout

PCB 3D Model

Version Control Software

Why Version Control?

• Preserve software (project) development history

• Collaboration

• Continuous Integration / Deployment

• Testing

• Maintaining multiple released versions

• Required for IEC 62304 (Medical Software), FDA V&V (510k clearance)

Git

• https://git-scm.com
• https://gitlab.oit.duke.edu
• https://www.gitkraken.com/gitlens

Firmware Development

Why Firmware?

• While many things can be done in discrete electronics, microcontrollers and microprocessors (and SoCs) are becoming inexpensive and ubiquitous.

• “Knowing Arduino” is not an eye-catching skill on a resume; but firmware development is!

Firmware isn’t “software”…

• Firmware is a special kind of software that is designed to interact with hardware.

• Firmware is often written in C, but can be written in other languages.

• Firmware is highly resource constrained

• Software is often written in Python, Java, C++, etc.

• Software is often written to be run on a general-purpose computer (laptop, desktop, server, etc.), that typically is not resource constrained.

  • User Interface

  • Web Server

  • Database

  • Data Processing / Analytics

Medical Devices

Arduino-Framework / PlatformIO

• We will use PlatformIO to develop firmware for our projects using Visual Studio Code as our IDE.

• We will use the Arduino framework (in contrast to something like Zephyr RTOS) to develop firmware for our projects.

• Learn robust, modular firmware development practices.