A FLEXIBLE PC-BASED PHYSIOLOGICAL MONITOR FOR ANIMAL-EXPERIMENTS

We have developed a flexible physiological monitoring and analysis sys tem for physiological studies in which data are obtained over extended periods. Our system uses low-cost personal computer hardware to conce ntrate data from existing multiple monitoring devices. All monitored p arameters are displayed on a single screen and recorded in a single fi le. The system automates the process of physiological record keeping b y providing continuous displays of vital signs. In addition, audible a nd visual alarms are produced when vital signs are outside of acceptab le ranges, prompting the experimenter to take corrective actions. The central element of the system is a program running in a dedicated mann er on an IBM PC-compatible computer. The program is written in the C l anguage and makes use of a graphics library to display traces and anal ysis results in real time on any standard display for the PC. This pro gram assigns the analog channels of an A/D board to particular physiol ogical parameters by initially reading a configuration file, which als o describes the alarm conditions and analysis routine for each paramet er. All hardware specific code is isolated into well-defined modules. The program is both highly flexible with regard to different sets of p arameters and highly portable for different experimental and computer environments.