One person dies every 5.25 seconds of sudden cardiac arrest. One of the main reasons is the lack of defibrillation within the first few minutes. An effective “Chain of Survival” is crucial for people who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). In many regions, ambulances arrive between 11-15 minutes after receiving an emergency call. However, the time between four and nine minutes is the Survival Gap for OHCA.
A leading medical device manufacturer (MDM) made it its mission to save lives from sudden cardiac arrest around the world. Their vision is to improve access to easy-to-use and affordable equipment that facilitates early CPR and defibrillation for OHCA patients globally with the world’s first personal automated external defibrillator (AED).
The defibrillator is a wall-mount appliance that a consumer purchases and should always be ready for use in case of emergency. To meet consumer-grade simplicity, zero-touch configuration is a must—no at-home Wi-Fi configuration is required. It is a one-time use device and does not involve a doctor or a healthcare provider. In some ways, it is like a fire extinguisher at home.
The purpose of cellular IoT connectivity for the defibrillator is twofold:
The defibrillator connects to the cellular network monthly and sends a health update to their company server, including battery status and internal device diagnostics. This ensures that the device is always ready for use in case of an emergency.
If the defibrillator is used, the cellular component becomes active, engaging a location server to inform that it is in use. It sends detailed information about the course of action the device takes in reviving the patient, such as the amount of voltage used, the number of revival attempts, and the amount of power consumed. Finally, it notifies the medical device manufacturer so they can contact the user and arrange for a replacement.
In their on-site test phase, the manufacturer encountered a puzzling issue with their device, which occasionally sent fault alerts that could not be diagnosed and required replacing the unused device. They requested Aeris’ help to resolve this issue.
The device manufacturer found their current cellular provider difficult to work with and their Tech Support entirely inadequate. While continuing to use their SIMs, they sought help from Aeris Tech Support.
Right from the start, Aeris provided superior Tech Support that they had never seen from their current cellular connectivity provider. Our sales engineer helped the device manufacturer tune the device, solve network connectivity issues, and sometimes fix issues with their device. They received none of this support from their current connectivity provider. During these interactions, they received a firsthand preview of Aeris’s Tech Support and the depth of engagement we establish with our customers. They saw Aeris as a true business partner not just a connectivity provider.
We introduced the Aeris IoT Watchtower to the medical device manufacturer to demonstrate its ability to continuously monitor every device for malicious, suspicious, and anomalous traffic and provide detailed information on device location, traffic destination and data volume. With our help, they quickly identified a flaw in how the device communicates with their health check server. The communication takes place through the radio module provided by a third-party supplier. Nine out of ten times, it was calling the manufacturer’s server as required.
It turns out that radio module has its own diagnostic health checks and updates. Using Aeris IoT Watchtower, we found that the radio module hijacked one out of ten diagnostic checks and sent it to its own server for its radio module diagnostic health check.
By hijacking the device diagnostic session, radio module supplier was not only breaking the session but also encroaching on the consumer’s device connectivity contract, posing a possible data privacy violation.
We informed the supplier and the manufacturer of this encroachment. The medical device manufacturer contacted their radio module supplier and asked them to turn off this feature, which they promptly did.
This case emphasizes that carriers and other IoT solution providers often lack the technology to give detailed insights and expertise to provide the necessary consultative services. At Aeris, we help customers address their issues rather than leaving them to figure it out on their own. Continuous per-device traffic monitoring, detailed device and traffic information gathering, and world-class tech support were the hallmarks of the Aeris engagement with the medical device manufacturer.