ISmart: Ultrasound Bone densitometer

The assessment of skeletal status has wide clinical applications, especially in the management of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis, once thought of as an unpreventable and untreatable aging process, has given up many of its secrets over the last decade, and the advent of successful drug therapy has changed our perception of the disease. Non-invasive imaging techniques have played – and will continue to play – a vital role in the diagnostic of osteoporosis and in assessing the efficacy of drug treatment. There is an increased awareness of osteoporosis as a major health problem in the industrialized world as its population ages. Improved non-invasive imaging techniques will play an important role in the response to this project. Ultrasonic bone densitometer devices are one of these non-invasive techniques which gain its importance from being radiation free, small size, portability, and low cost; so in our graduation project for year 2011 we tried to make such a device in order to gain knowledge in the field of ultrasound signal generation and processing and embedded systems design and programming as well as gain a knowledge about how to design a medical device from A-to-Z. Our goal after gaining this knowledge is continue in the field of medical devices prototypingand designs.