The box contained eight disposable medical pads to fasten the sensors on the body, 2 sensors, 2 (thingamabob) cards to use in the mobile device, four hearing aid batteries for the sensors, a calling card for toumaz and a CD with various installation programs. There was also a user guide and a “System Description and Outline Specifications” document included on the CD.
The system consists of a sensor that is attached to the body, a proprietary radio link that is attached to the mobile device, and a software application that reads the data sent by the sensor.
The mobile device cannot be further away than 3 meters from the sensor, so it’s probably a good idea to always carry the device when useing the sensor.
I decided to skip the technical description and go straight for the user guide. Altough it didn’t spell it out, it seems to imply that you have already installed the PDA software, so that’s where I’ll start.
The first thing I noticed was the distinct (and welcome) lack of an autostart feature. The CD features a number of documents explained earlier in addition to a readme file explaining how to install the application. With my trusty iMate JasJar connected to the computer and synched via ActiveSync, this should simply be a case of running the install files. Sadly, the instructions ask me to run the file named “ARASANSDIO_UARTInstall.exe”, which does not exist on the CD. Instead, there’s a file called “ARASANSDIO-VirtualSerialInstall.exe” that I decide will have to make do.
The installation of the chip-driver went painlessly, although it complained about the application being designed for an earlier version of Windows Mobile and that it might not display properly because of that. The Toumaz ECGSoft application installed without any complaints.
After consulting with my in-house physician (well, actually in-house developer), I decide that the leads should be placed on the chest, on each side of the heart. According to the user guide, the leads should be placed before the device is turned on. After the leads have been fastened, the Zinc Air battery is to be exposed to oxygen (i.e. the protective tab should be removed), but not inserted into the device just yet. The battery needs about 60 seconds exposed to air before it activates, and only then should it be inserted. Prior to this, however, the receiver card should be inserted into the mobile device and the application should be running.
Running the application turned out to be less then a success. The application refused to start up, citing the lack of some library named “OSEA.dll”. This test had to abort at this stage, but will be resumed later.
