One of the key components of the ventilator was the controller and communication board. This was our first concept, so we haven’t been bothered by the smallest SMD components yet. The logic was simple - if the big PCB fits the enclosure, the smaller one definitely will later.
Our goal was to support two types of ventilators. One with a single tube and another with two - inhale and exhale separated. That meant we had to measure pressures and calculate flow either on one side or both. It required some serious thinking and a lot of sensors, and we needed to design the hardware to handle all of that without compromise.
Beyond the main features, the board had to include fallback power, internal battery support, alarms, buzzers, and even external nurse call interfaces, which had to follow strict medical standards. It had to be smart, safe, and redundant. But each of those redundant circuits came with its own failure points. That’s the paradox of real engineering, every safety net introduces more risk to manage.
What I’m most proud of is how we built this thing as a remote team. Developers, engineers, and technicians from both the UAE and Croatia were working together across time zones. We were designing, building, debugging, testing, and updating a piece of real hardware from different continents. And yes, remote debugging of embedded electronics is just as painful as it sounds.
