Using of Raspberry Pi for data acquisition from biochemical analyzers

A large number of analyses performed in a biochemical laboratory requires that results of these analyses are automatically acquired from analyzers which can be of different types and produced by various producers. Automatic data acquisition prevents errors which are possible if results are manually transcribed into reports for patients. Beside this, acquired results are saved in database from where they are available to be used in electronic health record (EHR). Above requirement resulted in development of a solution for data acquisition from heterogeneous laboratory analyzers. Here we present the solution which is based on minicomputer Raspberry Pi model B, Raspbian OS, Mono Framework and a .NET Framework 4.0 console application written in C# programming language. Proposed solution is tightly connected with medical information system MEDIS.NET and with laboratory information system LabIS. In order to test whole concept we developed a laboratory simulator which completely implements protocol for biochemical analyzers. The emphasis is on an inexpensive solution which connects a large number of heterogeneous analyzers at a biochemical laboratory.