The rapid global expansion of the SARs-CoV-2 pandemic throughout 2020 and 2021 brought numerous challenges. Specifically for cases where patients are affected by SARs, the only possible form of treatment is the use of artificial mechanical ventilation provided by ventilators or respirators.
At the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, reference in education in Brazil, the INSPIRE Project began on 19th of March 2020, comprising the conception, development, approval, distribution, monitoring and support for the usage of emergency ventilators using only Brazilian technology. Understanding the strategic importance of having a complete Brazilian design, component supply and manufacturing chain of the electronics industry, the project pointed out as a decisive success factor to adopt local solutions for electronic components such as processors and memories, given the possible interruptions of international production chains and distribution.
Therefore, it was decided to adopt the CANINOS LOUCOS solution for INSPIRE’s computational and control platform – a project developed within the scope of the Informatics Law, with support of the MCTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) – and the company Zilia.
Labrador module with eMCP memories of Zilia made in Brazil
The CANINOS LOUCOS program developed Single Board Computers (SBC) for the Internet of Things (IoT). SBCs are complete computers integrated on a single printed circuit board. Despite their reduced dimensions and cost, functionally SBCs are very powerful computers incorporating various general purpose input and output interfaces (GPIOs General Purpose I/O), wireless and wired Internet connectivity, USB ports, ports for sensors and actuators. SBCs have become essential platforms for IoT development and invaluable for shortening new product development time. Among the models of the SBC family, Labrador SBCs developed by CANINOS LOUCOS was developed to a semiconductor component manufactured by Zilia, the eMCP (embedded Multi-Chip Package Memory) is memory type where the structure combine a chip Flash and DRAM memories in a single IC package.
The CANINOS LOUCOS family was pioneered globally with the usage of eMCP and LPDRAM devices in SBCs. The adoption of this technology results in great robustness, high computational performance, small space occupied by the device and low energy consumption, which is a significant technological innovation for the development of the project. As eMCP device has a standardized pin layout, its adoption contributes to the versatility of the platform, as it allows the adoption of different storage capacities, keeping the printed circuit board design unchanged, just replacing the eMCP.
Brazilian technology for the benefit of society
The adoption of SBC Labrador proved to be adequate for the INSPIRE development, as it resulted in a low-cost project, robust and implemented with a large portion of components manufactured in Brazil.
At the time of writing this article, in the third week of September 2021, 900 Inspire ventilators have already been manufactured and distributed to approximately 200 Brazilian cities in 15 Brazilian states. The Inspire project is an example of the use of agile design and manufacturing techniques in engineering, using human capital and technologies available in Brazil and modern paradigms advocated by industry 4.0 (additive manufacturing and IoT). It is also a concrete example of knowledge transfer from Academic to Society benefits.
