The proposed project will generate an accurate pressure analyzer and a segmental penile cuff for sensing penile blood pressure pulses. Based on the results of the feasibility work undertaken, the specifications of the analyzer will encompass an overall accuracy of 0.05%, a resolution of 0.01mm Hg pressure icrement, a frequency and from zero to ten Hz (at 3 db), and a very low, tolerable leakage in its pneumatic system with no leakage through the transducer. Even though the target application goal is to diagnose and evaluate male impotence, the analyzer can satisfy a wide variety of applications. The analyzer with a cuff is readily applicable to cardiovascular research. With a suitable pressure pickup sensor the analyzer can be used for measurement of intracranial pressure in trauma centers and hospitals. The immediate application market of the proposed cuff and analyzer system is in sleep laboratories and in urology clinics. The next targeted market of the analyzer is trauma centers. In order to achieve the above mentioned accuracy the analyzer will be equipped with a built-in electronic calibration chart which will correct the non-linearities of the transfer function of the pressure transducer. The hermeticity of the transducer will be checked by a helium leak detector before installation into the system. Since the analyzer will provide both analog and digtal data output, it will be compatible with both analog recorders and computers. For the applications requiring wider frequency bandwidth the transducer can be improved. Its computer compatibility can facilitate real time analysis.
