@djh “AAPS is an open source app for people living with insulin-dependent diabetes that acts as an artificial pancreas system (APS) on Google Android smartphones.”
Mobile phones are not intended to be medical devices.
It can be difficult to create a dedicated device. But to run life-critical software on an internet-connected computer where you have little control or knowledge of the inner workings?
Was the app actually killed by the phone to save power? Is there a bug that caused the app to be killed? Perhaps the bug is in the app, not the phone?
@djh whilst Android OEMs doing stupid things (Samsung) annoys me no end… but holy cow this isn’t a problem with Samsung. This is a problem with the equipment manufacturer itself relying on a consumer smartphone for critical medical functionality.
Sure, have a configuration interface on a phone. But the logic should be fully handled on the medical equipment and should definitely fail in a safe way.
@djh Let's step back a bit here: Why on earth are people running criticial health controls on an android smartphone? This has nothing to do with "proper functionality", but it's the wrong platform for these kinds of apps. Critical apps needs an RT operating system, guaranteed resources, a watchdog, and more. And the pump shouldn't rely on bluetooth in the first place, it's not a protocol for safety critical communication.
@crepererum@djh You might cry, but using Bluetooth for safety critical operation is pretty common these days. Well, and considering the poor quality of other safety critical components in such setups, the Bluetooth connection might often be the most reliable part of these systems. We have failed.
@taschenorakel @crepererum@djh
I'm still not even convinced Bluetooth reliability is good enough yet to be a viable replacement for headphone jacks.
But I certainly wouldn't want my life to depend on Bluetooth. And ideally the entire software stack required would be formally verified. Regardless, the safety critical part should be minimal and well tested.
Your life depending on an Android app not crashing or being killed sounds a bit like Therac-25. I guess not much progress has been made.
@sven_ola@djh OTOH the post mentions Samsung; I use a location tracker at a set interval on several phones and on a Samsung (A33) it gets completely killed every once in a while. It's as if the app never ran.
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