# What Goes into Designing Devices for Military and Emergency Applications?

- Show: [Global Medical Device Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast)
- Published: 2020-11-26
- Length: 38m
- Episode: 169
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications
- Listen: https://podcast.greenlight.guru/episode/what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications

## Summary

Monty Leja and Robert Futch of the Delta Development Team discuss designing the Autonomous Portable Refrigeration Unit (APRU), a ruggedized medical refrigeration device for military and emergency use. They explain how end-user feedback drove the design to withstand extreme environments, leading to a miniaturized, battery-powered unit that meets AABB and FDA regulations. The team details their regulatory journey with Greenlight Guru and Wade Schroeder, highlighting a critical EMC failure resolved by adjusting firmware data rates rather than adding shielding. This approach reduced complexity and cost, allowing them to meet aggressive timelines for production models expected in early 2021.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications#t=0) Introduction: Monty Leja and Robert Futch of Delta Development Team
- [1:55](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications#t=115) Background: Monty Leja's military experience and team formation
- [5:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications#t=317) APRU Product Design: Miniaturization, battery power, and ruggedization
- [12:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications#t=752) Regulatory Challenges: Navigating ISO 13485 and FDA requirements
- [19:59](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications#t=1199) Testing Methodologies: Meeting extreme environment and IEC 60601 standards
- [22:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications#t=1320) EMC Debugging: Resolving interference via firmware changes instead of hardware shielding
- [27:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications#t=1633) Validation and Field Testing: Prototypes in Afghanistan and Navajo Nation
- [33:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications#t=2012) Lessons Learned: Due diligence, risk management, and meeting aggressive timelines

## Topics

- [Medical & health devices](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/medical-devices)
- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Certification & compliance](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/certification-and-compliance)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Delta Development Team (company)
- Autonomous Portable Refrigeration Unit (product)
- APRU (product)
- Greenlight Guru (company)
- Wade Schroeder (other)
- Monty Leja (other)
- Robert Futch (other)
- John Spear (other)
- AABB (other)
- FDA (other)
- ISO 13485 (other)
- IEC 60601 (other)
- IEC 61010 (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [S1E14 An Engineer’s Engineer | Robert Futch](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2020-06-19-s1e14-an-engineers-engineer-robert-futch) (Being an Engineer)
- [S1E35 Harley-Davidson, Device Reprocessing, & Keeping a High Level Perspective | Tim Rempfer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2020-09-04-s1e35-harley-davidson-device-reprocessing-keeping-a-high-level-perspective-tim-r) (Being an Engineer)
- [Photon Rich, Cash Poor](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-10-14-photon-rich-cash-poor) (The Amp Hour)
- [305: Humans Have a Terrible Spec Sheet (Repeat)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-04-28-305-humans-have-a-terrible-spec-sheet-repeat) (Embedded.fm)
- [Medical Electronics Education with Mark Palmeri](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-12-22-medical-electronics-education-with-mark-palmeri) (The Amp Hour)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-11-26-what-goes-into-designing-devices-for-military-and-emergency-applications. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Global Medical Device Podcast.