
	EPI’s medical device customer desired a fresh look to their X-Ray Operator Panel. In addition to meeting the stated design objectives, EPI had to prove a minimum life span with regard to the membrane switches. The most difficult challenge, however, was setting up the display panel according to the customer’s unique formatting requirements and communications protocol. Due to the complexity of the software, verification of functionality and proper response to protocol commands would require many hours of testing and analysis.
Solution: To prevent costly trips to the customer’s out-of-state facilities to check the accuracy of input commands, EPI engineers wrote a special set of test code that ran on a PC operating system. The test code “talked” to the X-Ray system in the same manner that the customer’s host server communicates with the equipment and verified that the application code in the operator’s interface worked properly. In addition to meeting all of the customer’s targeted design goals, EPI created an automated testing environment to simulate the standard procedures an end-user would follow while operating the X-Ray equipment. Engineers determined which buttons would be pushed during typical procedures and emulated the required button usage for a two-year cycle of operation during a 30-day test period.
Results: EPI’s input into the design and engineering of the X-Ray system resulted in more functionality, proven reliability and as much as a 30% reduction in development time and cost.