Abstract: A calibration system and method for calibrating a medical sensor (16) that monitors chemical blood gases. A calibrator (12) is used in connection with a tray (14) in which the medical sensor is stored in a sterile environment, both before and during the calibration process. The medical sensor is immersed in a liquid (30) in a tonometry chamber (28) defined in the tray and covered by a membrane (120/122) that is permeable to gas, but impermeable to bacteria. During the calibration process, the tray is inserted into the calibrator, bringing a heated platen (26) into contact with the tonometry chamber, so that the liquid can be heated to a calibration temperature substantially equal to the temperature at which the medical sensor will subsequently be used. A first calibration gas is then bubbled through the liquid until a saturated condition is achieved.

Abstract: A method and system for controlling the intervals during which light signals are sampled in a fiber-optic sensing system compensates for signal artifacts that are caused by movement of the fiber-optic waveguide during the sampling. The method and system sample the light signals at intervals that are shorter than the intervals during which displacement of the optical waveguide occurs in normal use. The short-sampling intervals result in the individual sampling of different wavelengths of light being exposed to the same changes in transmission characteristics of the optical waveguide which causes signal artifacts. Accordingly, when subsequent processing of the collected signals occurs, the effects of the signal artifacts are compensated for.