Sonicaid

Sonicaid Ltd was a medical electronics company headquartered in West Sussex best known for its range of Doppler fetal monitors.

The original design was due to Frederick (Doug) Fielder who was Sonicaid's medical research director.

[5][6][7][8] The FM series products used both ultrasound and ECG to provide continuous monitoring (recorded on paper charts), enabling clinical interpretation of changes in fetal heart rate during contractions.

[9] The FM3R[10] received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 1977[11] and one of these instruments is displayed at the Science Museum, London[12] (the "machine that goes ping" in The Meaning of Life is identifiable as this model).

Sonicaid Ltd was involved in an early venture in the development of a 3D multiplanar scanner in the mid-1970s,[13] building on the pioneering obstetric ultrasonography work by Prof Ian Donald and colleagues.