Apps are very important in the healthcare sector these days. Apps that can read and process data from medical sensors are particularly useful. Flutter is an open-source framework from Google that's ideal for developing such apps. Our goal in this project was to create an app with Flutter to test, configure, and update the sensors we've produced.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is a tool that allows you to develop apps for multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, web, and desktop, from a single codebase. It uses the Dart programming language and offers many pre-built widgets, making development fast and flexible. Finding the right widget for every functionality takes some time, but once you've built up a repertoire, you'll be creating your first apps in no time.
Advantages of Flutter
- Rapid development
Flutter has a "hot reload" feature that makes code changes immediately visible in the app. This speeds up development and facilitates testing and debugging, which is particularly beneficial for complex healthcare apps. This feature allows small changes to be reflected immediately, especially during user interface development. You can immediately identify and fix display errors or align the color scheme.We have recorded our own example and in the first video we have added the suffix “Impedance” to the code instead of “Impedance” valThis change is also implemented directly in the second video, which shows the app's user interface.
- Many libraries and support
For every use case, there are libraries and plugins that facilitate the integration of sensors and other medical devices, for example. There's also a large community of developers who provide support and resources. There are many open-source libraries to choose from. We opted for a Bluetooth connection to connect our sensors, using the "flutter_reactive_ble" library. To visualize the received real-time data, we used "fl_chart." Both libraries provide complex functionality with numerous customization options. However, the large community will help you catch yourself whenever you stumble, and you'll likely discover more widgets along the way that will make your life easier. - High performance
Flutter apps are fast and responsive because they translate directly into machine code. This is important for apps that need to process sensor data in real time. For example, if we want to display skin conductivity in real time during our project, this is no problem with Flutter. - Apps for multiple platforms
Unlike specialized programming environments, Flutter allows you to create apps for multiple devices with a single code stream. This saves time and resources. This is especially useful in the healthcare sector, where an app needs to work on both a medical staff member's iPhone and a patient's Android tablet. - Beautiful user interfaces
Flutter allows you to create beautiful and user-friendly interfaces. In healthcare, an easy-to-use interface is essential to make the application intuitive for everyone and to maintain an overview even in critical moments.
Practical application: Reading medical sensors
Medtech produces many different sensors, each with an even wider range of applications. The initial goal was to develop an app that could evaluate the sensor, which measures skin conductivity. The goal was to be able to display real-time data, change the sensor settings, and upload new software to the sensor.
The goal was then expanded to include other types of sensors as well. For example, we're working on a sensor that will monitor cardiopulmonary resuscitation and provide appropriate feedback if the rhythm or pressure deviates from the target.
In the video, Luca performs a test electrodermal measurement on himself to test the visualization of the data measurement, in this case using Python.
Conclusion
Flutter is a powerful, flexible, and efficient platform for developing healthcare apps that control medical devices or read sensors. The ability to build apps for multiple platforms, rapid development, high performance, and engaging user interfaces make Flutter an ideal choice for healthcare developers.
Due to Flutter's accessibility and large community, I highly recommend developing apps with Flutter. If you have any questions or need help with development, please feel free to contact us.