A medical device , comprising: a control system ; a plurality of processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 321-N); and a wire bundle connecting the control system to the plurality of processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N), wherein the wire bundle comprises control lines , and a shared data bus comprising data lines, which is shared by the plurality of processing modules; wherein each processing module (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N) is coupled to a respective set of sensors (321, 321-1, 321-2, 321-N) arranged to interface with a biological tissue site, wherein the sensors are configured to capture analog physiological signals generated from the biological tissue site; wherein the control system is configured to generate a control signal on at least one control line of the control lines to initiate a data collection cycle by the plurality of processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N); and wherein in response to the control signal, each processing module of the plurality of processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N) is configured to perform a respective data collection process which comprises (i) capturing and processing an analog physiological signal on each enabled sensor in the respective set of sensors coupled to the processing module to generate a data sample for each analog physiological signal captured on each enabled sensor, and (ii) transmitting the data samples to the control system on the shared data bus ; wherein the processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N) are configured to have access to the shared data bus in a specified sequence, based on a data bus sharing protocol implemented under control of the control system , to transmit the respective data samples to the control system . a control system ; a plurality of processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 321-N); and a wire bundle connecting the control system to the plurality of processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N), wherein the wire bundle comprises control lines , and a shared data bus comprising data lines, which is shared by the plurality of processing modules; wherein each processing module (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N) is coupled to a respective set of sensors (321, 321-1, 321-2, 321-N) arranged to interface with a biological tissue site, wherein the sensors are configured to capture analog physiological signals generated from the biological tissue site; wherein the control system is configured to generate a control signal on at least one control line of the control lines to initiate a data collection cycle by the plurality of processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N); and wherein in response to the control signal, each processing module of the plurality of processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N) is configured to perform a respective data collection process which comprises (i) capturing and processing an analog physiological signal on each enabled sensor in the respective set of sensors coupled to the processing module to generate a data sample for each analog physiological signal captured on each enabled sensor, and (ii) transmitting the data samples to the control system on the shared data bus ; wherein the processing modules (140, 320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N) are configured to have access to the shared data bus in a specified sequence, based on a data bus sharing protocol implemented under control of the control system , to transmit the respective data samples to the control system . <EOS>