It means you won ’t be able to upgrade the system and get assistance with it after its end of life. The end of life of Windows CE does not mean you won ’t be able to use it in your current products. The time had come for the development of new and emerging technology, so Microsoft discontinued support for the family of Windows CE operating systems.
They give place to better and newer things. In conclusion, Windows CE is a good option for your medical device, especially when you need a customized solution based on a fully-integrated platform.
With CE you can configure a Wi-Fi transceiver up to the needs of your device, and besides, there is a good choice of drivers for different Wi-Fi transceivers. CE supports WPA and WPA2, making Wi-Fi connections secure. Windows CE is a good choice when a Wi-Fi connection is an important feature of your medical device. A simple graphical user interface is a necessity for medical device users - the clearer and simpler the GUI is designed, the more effective and timely is the assistance it provides. This is essential for Class III medical devices that have the highest risk and strong demand for permanent monitoring.Īs we mentioned above, Windows CE is convenient and easy for programming and supports a wide choice of various user interfaces, which is also important for medical devices. It ’s been used in a wide range of medical devices, from low-power screening devices designed for collecting, recording, and transmitting data, to highly complex medical equipment like an X-ray machine and an MRI.įirst of all, it is a real-time operating system that is able to react in a split second and provide continuous operation of the equipment, preventing it from malperformance. Secondly, it should be extremely reliable, especially when we talk about real-time mission-critical systems controlling the life of the patient. What are the key qualities of medical device software? First, it should be simple to use, either for medical staff or patients. It provides a wide range of platforms and an ample quantity of components for creating your own OS images with the required hardware functionality. The latest version of WinCE - Windows Embedded Compact 2013 represents a 32-bit multitasking, multithreading real-time operating system that offers a number of possibilities to its users at a reasonable cost. Customization of such a multi-component embedded operating system as WinCE starts with the use of a board support package that sets the necessary environmental parameters and provides the drivers to make the OS compatible with your hardware.
The easy programming environment and availability of the source code make it possible to create a customized operating system and modify the software in accordance with the hardware requirements. With the expansion of its functionality and scope of application, Windows CE found use in the automotive industry, telecommunications, consumer electronics, industrial solutions, and healthcare. Windows CE version 2.0 already contained a real-time scheduler in its kernel.Īs time passed, Microsoft released new versions, adding more features and changing the name of the OS to Windows Embedded CE and finally to Windows Embedded Compact. But very soon it turned out that a lot of devices that could potentially work with WinCE had a strong demand for real-time processing. Initially, Windows CE was a general-purpose operating system. Being similar to Windows 95, CE was purposely designed for embedded systems. It was intended for small, light-weighted, and low-storage devices with a monochrome 480*240 pixel screen. Launched by Microsoft in 1996, the first version of this operating system was a mobile OS predecessor.
WinCE has been a leader among the handhelds for over twenty years.
You might be familiar with Windows CE if you have ever dealt closely with a portable device or an embedded system.