Portfolio – mimetic systems

doug murray consulting

system and software engineering

scientific and medical projects

our business is developing

Medical Related Projects

ProBeam Proton Therapy System

Responsible for the overall architecture of Varian’s oncology treatment system, consisting of a 250 MeV superconducting proton accelerator, an energy selection and beam transport system and a variety of clinical devices working together in one of the most successful proton therapy systems available today. Products include multi-room or single room variations with options for fixed or variable angle beam delivery. Intensity modulated pencil beam scanning, precise patient positioning, orthogonal and cone-beam imaging, an excellent interface for the clinical user and more all come together into an integrated medical system. Find more information here from Varian Medical Systems.

Defined the initial Product Requirements Specification.
Lead the rework effort of the System Requirements Specification, bringing a design-centric requirements document to the level of a formal engineering document, enabling formal verification.
Directed the System Architecture, Design work and technical direction for Varian’s ProBeam product line.
Facilitated detailed design of system interface definitions, from real-time power supply interfaces to user interactions, from rack-profiles to cable tray placement, to clinical motion collision avoidance.
Directed the design of a distributed software infrastructure, including deployment models, communication protocols, clinical automation and coordination, and more.

NEWRT 230 Proton Therapy System

Responsible for the overall architecture of the oncology treatment system from NewRT Medical Systems and involved with all technical aspects of the complete system. I was also supporting relationships with various subsystem vendors while internal engineering was ongoing in China. The system contains a 230 MeV proton synchrotron driven by an RF quadrupole and associated devices. The accelerator, beam transport system and clinical devices are delivered as compact single room product having a fixed or variable angle beam delivery option. The fixed beam product is marketed to fit within an existing photon-based treatment room and the design includes pencil beam scanning, a unique chair-based patient positioning system, motion tracking support, orthogonal or cone-beam CT imaging, integrated installation and commissioning support and a modern clinical user interface. Find more information here from NewRT Medical Systems.

Facilitated the definition of formal requirements from user and product level through system and detailed subsystem levels
Defined overall system architecture of oncology treatment product line
Instrumental in development of the quality management system
Produced system design documents, interface control specifications, user interface guidelines and much more for the product line
Developed an automated mechanism for requirement and design document generation using a popular design tool repository.
Procured and configured software tools for requirements management and design controls
Directed the software design and development, from generic hardware access library through inter-process communication, an integrated user interface and service tool support for all clinical and accelerator subsystems.
Reviewed and supported all ongoing development work

LIGHT Proton Therapy System

Responsible for comprehensive Product and System Specifications for the Advanced Oncotherapy’s LIGHT (Linac for Image Guided Hadron Therapy) system. Worked closely with the System Engineering team to evaluate existing vendor requirements and provide an hierarchical, fully-linked and integrated system specification. The System includes Accelerator, Clinical and Infrastructure subsystems, including a Proton Linear Accelerator, a delivery nozzle system and a robotic treatment chair with integrated vertical CT imaging. I worked with the team to develop a System Architecture specification including the definition of the working system context, identification of direct stakeholders and their interactions with subsystems, definition of the relationships between subsystems and outlining required interfaces. Developed collaboration and other diagrams for subsystem definitions. Find more information here from Advanced Oncotherapy.

Developed formal Product Requirements to reflect the voice of the clinical customer.
Developed formal System Requirements tracing to the product level and integrating existing subsystem specifications
Identified system stakeholders and the functionality they require for successful and safe system operation
Defined System Context and subsystem relationships with UML and SysML diagrams

Nuclear Medicine Imaging Control System

Responsible for the design of integrated controls for medical imaging systems. All aspects of clinical workflow are managed and adjustable by the clinical user. The workflow engine includes a domain-specific scripting language which is able to manage all aspects of the imaging session. The system has been deployed at thousands of sites around the world.

Responsible for architecture and design of software controlling all aspects of distributed medical image acquisition system.
Designed and developed EASL, a domain specific programming language used to access and control gamma detectors, motion control system and image acquisition components.
Designed and developed a mechanism for generic, extensible and self- describing data to describe acquired demographic, biometric and clinical information.
Developed class libraries in Java and C++ to provide a high level API to all aspects of system, based on CORBA. Java based client software is able to access the system remotely and securely.

ARGOS

Responsible for the design and implementation of the advanced real-time gantry operating software for patient positioning using a movable gantry system. The system was used primarily for imaging systems and was deployed for different modalities, from SPECT and PET imaging to CT and MRI. It included a hardware access layer to provide a common API to a variety of motion related devices, and high-level access through a simple interface. An integrated field service mechanism allowed live-time access to current operations with the user able to adjust the amount of detail being communicated.

Designed and developed a framework for motion control, for medical imaging equipment; ARGOS has since been used to build diverse medical imaging gantry platforms for Nuclear Medicine (SPECT), PET, CT and other modalities
Designed and developed high level scripting language for motion control, including remote access and debugging tools.
Developed an advanced gantry control mechanism, providing a device and hardware description database. The system allows tracking, dependency relationships, sequencing and other features to be implemented from a very high-level interpreted language.
A debugger and visual testing mechanism are provided allowing advanced clinical users to develop protocol-specific motions.

Image Binning System

Responsible for the design and implementation of a data acquisition and analysis engine for medical imaging. Data is acquired from a specialized detector system that registers single photon events from gamma rays. The events are recorded in two-dimensional histograms by a multi-threaded server building parallel images using a patented algorithm. Pixel registration is synchronized with external events such as R-Wave detection from an ECG. An integrated real-time communication mechanism allows for live image display and field service interrogation during clinical operation without affecting image quality or response. The level of detail coming from field service messages is dynamically adjustable remotely.

Designed and implemented client/server communication protocol which can describe an arbitrarily complex acquisition sequence of patient images.
Image server allows many different modes of image acquisition, including time and/or count based images, heartbeat-gated, total body and several others. Detectors can acquire images independently and concurrently, and in any sequence specified by generic client software.
Patented concurrent image acquisition software, which has proven to be a significant differentiation in the marketplace for Molecular Imaging.
Design based on common object-oriented design patterns; system was developed primarily in C++, heavily multithreaded.

EPIC Detector System

Responsible for the design and implementation of a data acquisition system for SPECT imaging. Data is acquired from photomultiplier tubes that detect scintillation events from gamma ray interaction with sodium iodide crystals. Several tasks running in a real-time kernel (VxWorks) acquire position data while other concurrent tasks manage various equipment settings and external communication requests. An integrated field service mechanism provides real-time access to incoming data stream and a unique data loss monitor provides insight into live-time performance.

Produced specification and design documents for gamma detector subsystems, representing major enhancements to existing Nuclear Medicine imaging equipment. Designed and personally produced much of the code to implement a new client server model, extensible to next generation imaging products. Included diagnostic tests, on-line dynamic system configuration, with local and remote field service tools.
The product shipped on schedule, and became primary source of revenue for the business. Personally trained field service and factory personnel at product roll out.
Implemented substantial changes in the software development process, and generated software design standards for the client, the leading manufacturer of nuclear medicine imaging cameras in the U.S. at the time, ultimately a recipient of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award.

AutoRAD / PACS System

Involved with project management and document control for a scalable picture archival and communication system. An integrated radiological information system used DICOM and similar technologies to manage storage, retrieval and communication . The system supported customizable and flexible hanging protocols for image viewing.

Managed various aspects of PACS development, productization, delivery and integration with product line on Mac, PC and UNIX platforms, and directed Systems Engineering. The product line consisted of display stations with up to four clinical grade monitors, archiving stations with terabyte jukebox hardware and image acquisition stations.
Developed standards for System Requirements, Marketing Specifications, Design Specifications, and other Engineering documents.
Instrumental in defining a comprehensive Product Development Process, outlining tasks for product development and support from all departments, from concept through delivery and product phase-out.
Directed the development of technical documentation including User Manuals, Service and Training Manuals. Developed a central documentation repository containing all engineering documents for products and procedures, all user and service manuals, accessible from all platforms for on-line viewing.

Imatron / HeartScan

Provided system analysis of ultra high-speed imaging using electron beam tomography (EBT). The technology provides high speed imaging with very low radiation using a linear accelerator, sweeping an electron beam across a tungsten arc, producing x-rays. Movement of the heart is captured as a snapshot rather than a blurred image acquired with a traditional slower moving source such as a mechanical CT device.

Advanced Pathology Systems

Provided technical analysis of a proposal for acquisition, storage retrieval and presentation of histology images captured through an automated process, including staining and management of samples.

Varian Medical Systems Technology Acquisition

Directed the software strategy and development of acquired technology which would later become Varian’s Proton Therapy System software. Responsible for productization and delivery of acquired Proton Therapy technologies. Worked closely with management consultants to move the business from an incomplete research and prototype system to productization, having earned CE marking in eighteen months followed by first patient treatment

Requested to act as Software Engineering Manager for a newly formed business unit of Varian Medical Systems.
Varian’s Proton Therapy Business came into being with the purchase of ACCEL Instruments GmbH.
The challenge was to bring a near-research project to the status of medical device in Germany within one year, with the explicit goal of treating first patient by the end of that calendar year.
Responsible for managing teams of developers in Germany, Netherlands and U.S. to bring Proton Therapy System to completion.
Responsible for personnel management, management of multi-million euro contracts, budget definition, documentation, development plans, schedules, specification and acquisition of external hardware and software.
A primary partner in defining a responsive management structure in Germany, streamlining the development process, establishing proper requirements management and process for design work, managing an agile time-box approach to scheduling and tracking, and much more.
That first phase was completed, the product verified and CE-mark attained on schedule. First patient treatment occurred shortly after customer staff was hired.

Scientific and Research Related Projects

Superconducting Super Collider Control System

Responsible for the Control System Software for the SSC, the world’s largest particle accelerator system at the time, consisting of five independent accelerators providing ever-increasing energy for proton-proton collisions. The Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory was cancelled by the U.S. Congress for non-technical reasons; it was to have been over 50 miles in circumference, using thousands of computers.

Responsible for all aspects of Software Development for a 20 TeV proton-proton collider, High, Medium and Low Energy Booster Rings, and Linear Accelerator. Responsibilities included analysis and design, software development plans, software standards and procedures, work packages and schedules, specification and acquisition of external software.
The Control System integrates magnet, cryogenic and RF systems, auxiliary cooling, quench control, beam diagnostics, inter-accelerator timing and synchronization, vacuum systems and much more.
Specific responsibilities included design, development and support of control and database software; tools for data acquisition, reduction and analysis; real time systems including device drivers; operator (user) interface standards through a visual programming environment, programmatic interfaces (API) and a system-wide framework; alarm and warning systems; sequence management and interfaces to timing and synchronization systems; localized and high level closed loop control algorithms; high level control for all accelerator equipment at the SSC; also documentation, training and support. Responsible for computer hardware specification and specification of EPICS software.

LCLS Beam Instrumentation, Motion Control and User Interface

Responsible for a variety of systems used in the Linac Coherent Light Source, the world’s first x-ray free electron laser at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Responsible for the wire scanner project for beam diagnostics; budget, scheduling and feature set were all met. Technical involvement included device and backplane selection, timing and device synchronization with beam events, beam profile presentation with quantitative analysis software, EPICS system integration, design documents and peer reviews, integration testing and LCLS commissioning.
Developed movable beam collimation devices having unique user interaction properties to meet physicist’s needs.
Implemented a set of movable, articulating beam lines in which several meters of fully instrumented beam pipe including magnets, diagnostic equipment, vacuum pumps and various sensing devices were positioned along the original linac beam path, or moved to produce a series of subtle bends to affect beam qualities.
Developed an intuitive and comprehensive user interface with a collaboration of developers from varied backgrounds. Common goals were met for accessing control points spread over a kilometer of physical distance, and monitoring equipment and beam parameters with minimal live-time delay.

Accelerator Systems String Test

Responsible for the ASST, a proof of concept for the core physics of the Superconducting Super Collider, enabling the technical aspects of the system to be developed.

Revised and developed software for instrumentation of superconducting dipole and quadrupole magnets and associated equipment.
Directed the development of a test data repository in Oracle, which included data acquired from dozens of different types of thermocouples and resistive temperature devices, flow and pressure transducers as well as voltage and current measurements and quench event data.
The test was successful and culminated in a U.S. Presidential visit to the site. It enabled further technical work on the SSC to proceed.

LUCID

Responsible for the design and much of the implementation of a real-time system for high speed acquisition, analysis and recording of data from nuclear physics experiments.

Worked closely with physicists to determine requirements; system is very easy to use, and was made available to Laboratories around the world.
Requirements were developed in the form of a 200+ page User’s Manual before any design or development work took place. The manual was reviewed and revised by our customers, an international group of experimental physicists, instead of a formal requirements specification.
Co-developed a diverse set of components to ease software development for experimental physics; run-time libraries, compiling tools, debugging aids, and a high level experimental physics language, all transparent to the experimenter and tied together with a networked graphical user interface, which was recognized for its ease of use.
The system parsed a very high-level description of an experiment including a list of acquisition and control hardware and their relationships, a description of the types of datasets expected to be constructed and an indication of how they should be displayed.
‘C’ language software was generated to run stand-alone on a powerful, dedicated single board computer to acquire the data and write it directly to high-density media for offline analysis.
‘C’ language software was also generated to view data samples live-time as acquisition load allowed. Complete control over the experiment’s activities and workflow were provided by the same generated software, with status information available on multiple remote displays.
The system was still in use after almost 20 years at various Research Laboratories.

Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory Control System

Responsible for an integrated control system for a research accelerator providing access to medium energy physics experiments, forerunner to the Canadian Light Source.