Texas Instruments (TI), a global player in analog, microcontroller and signal processing technologies, is planning to focus on the portable medical devices business which it sees as a new growth area in the country.

"Our focus is on portable medical devices, ECG, Pulse Oximetre, external defibrillator, blood pressure monitor, confocal microscopy, digital hearing aids, portable blood gas analyzer, ultrasound and MRI, to name a few," said Steve Parks, worldwide director (marketing) high-performance analog division of TI, at a news conference.

Currently, a significant component of medical device research comes out of TI's Bangalore office. TI offers both the product and the solutions, he said. TI already has a portfolio of medical applications which include hand-held instrumentation devices, high-precision laboratory diagnostics and high-speed, high-resolution medical imaging.

"High-performance analog (HPA) is the heart of the medical systems. Analog technologies are enablers of the digital world. Some key trends in medical electronics include higher portability and increased miniaturization. The HPA ensures precision and as a result potentially gives way to accurate interpretation of data," stated Parks.

According to Parks, the global analog devices market is estimated around $ 37 billion. The company made a revenue of $ 2 billion from analog devices in 2006 with an additional 33 per cent growth over 2005.

The company recently formed a Medical Business Unit within the HPA division at Dallas. The solutions for medical application leverage TI's product expertise in microcontrollers, high-speed amplifiers, high-resolution imaging DSPs for personal medical devices and medical imaging products, Parks said.

Last year, the company developed the world's first thought controlled 'Bionic Arm'. Although the product is by Liberating Technologies, Massachusetts, USA, the device is embedded with TI's C2000 controllers because of its superior abilities to generate pulse width modulated (PWM) signals for the most efficient method of driving the DC motors that are used in prostheses. Early this month, TI has launched a highly integrated boost converter which supports 27-V and improves battery life in portable medical applications, such as portable diagnostic systems.