Where: ALTEN Technology

For: Stryker Anaconda

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ALTEN Technology partnered with Stryker to support product development of the Anaconda system, with a focus on portability and reliability. The system was a dynamic pressure aspiration system used in neurological ischemic stroke cases and my team at ALTEN produced 4 prototype systems intended for proof of concept and demonstrative purposes. The prototypes were not intended for human use but were used for animal testing. During the three month engagement, I supported requirements updates to fully capture the customer's expectations of system architecture and behavior and distinguish them from "nice to haves".  I also authored the Anaconda Verification Plan and Verification Protocol and supported verification testing activities. The customer's specifications pivoted several times during the project and there were a few resource changes internal to ALTEN's team, which made the three month timeline a challenge. This was overcome with good documentation, daily interdisciplinary collaboration, and diligent configuration management. 

Per the initial SOW, the Level of Rigor for testing was prototype confidence testing (i.e., full verification of all requirements was not within scope), but requirements relating to leak tightness, valve operation, ability to make changes to timing, and pressure feedback-based operation were tested. The functionality of one full system (each system comprised four sub-system "boxes") was demonstrated to the customer team when they came onsite at ALTEN. ALTEN successfully delivered four functional prototype systems on time and received customer feedback including, "stability of the system is pretty impressive".