Sensing in an Armband Health Monitor

Nick Wilson of BodyMedia discusses the sensing and capabilities of the company’s two health monitoring devices at the 2012 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas.

To watch the video, click here.

For more information about BodyMedia FIT Armbands, click here.

Electric Field-Based Sensor Detects Movement

Applications in security, switching and gaming have a new option for detecting movements with Plessey Semiconductors newest Electric Potential Integrated Circuit (EPIC) sensors. The company’s initial product addressed ECG products for the health monitoring markets. In contrast, the PS25401 was engineered for higher volume applications and can be used in both proximity mode or to detect specific kinds of movement as a limited gesture recognition device.

The sensor does not require line of sight and can even detect movement through walls. This allows its use to replace, or operate in conjunction with a passive infra-red (PIR) sensor in applications such as security motion detectors.

For more information about Plessey Semiconductors PS25401 EPIC sensor, click here.

Applying MEMS Inertial Technology to Reduce Injuries

Analyzing athletes’ reaction to the extreme physical requirements of their sport leads to improved performance and avoids injuries. For competitive rowing, Roessingh Research & Development (RRD), a Netherlands research center, uses the Xsens MVN system developed by Xsens Technologies B.V. for its kinematics analysis.

The Xsens MVN system is a motion capture solution that consists of inertial sensors attached to the body by a lycra suit. Analog Devices provides the iMEMS(R) inertial sensing technology for the suit. In the suit, 17 motion trackers (MTx) containing more than 80 high-performance ADI iMEMS inertial sensors and 17 ADI Blackfin digital signal processors to analyze the rower’s motion.

For more information about Analog Devices iMEMS inertial sensing devices click here.

For more information about Xsens MVN system, click here.

Sensing Three Axes of Linear and Angular Motion in a 20-mm Footprint

There seems to be an insatiable demand to sense motion in the latest portable electronic products. For those with limited space, STMicroelectronics LSM330DL Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensor could satisfy their requirements. In its 4 x 5 x 1mm plastic land grid array (LGA) package, the 6 degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) inertial MEMS module is almost twice as small as anything else in production according to the company.

The accelerometer portion has a user-selectable full-scale acceleration range from 2 to 16g and the gyroscope portion has angular-rate detection from 250 to 2500 dps along the pitch, roll and yaw axes. The co-packaged sensors provide inherently precise alignment of the two sensors’ reference axes. In addition, the mechanical sensing structure’s design
delivers excellent thermal and mechanical stability. For example, the angular rate sensitivity change vs. temperature
from -40 to +85°C is ±2% (typically) and angular rate sensitivity with a full scale setting of ±250 dps is typically 8.75 mdps/digit.

The 6DoF  sensor is software-compatible with ST’s latest-generation 3-axis digital accelerometers (LIS3DH) and gyroscopes (L3GD20).

For more information about STMicroelectronics LSM330DL inertial module, click here.

Sensors Enable Portable Healthcare Innovations

Sensors as well as communication ICs and microcontrollers provide the enabling technologies for several new innovations in healthcare. A Kalorama Information Dec. 1, 2010 report estimates that the global market for medical mobile apps hit $84.M in 2010, increasing more than 2X its 2009 level of $41M. This is just the downloadable software portion of the market enabled by wireless sensing.

In spite of the difficulties in obtaining medical approvals for hardware, some companies are making definite progress in applying these advanced technologies.

Proteus Biomedical has developed a U.S. FDA 510K cleared and European Union CE Mark-certified personal patch-based wearable sensors for continuous physiologic sensing and monitoring. Proteus’ personal monitoring technology uses multiple sensors to monitor parameters including heart rate, physical activity, and sleep patterns. The figure shows an example of the types of measurements and monitoring system the company has developed.

This is just one example of how the pace is accelerating for healthcare monitoring. Lifecomm, a mobile health and wellness venture of Hughes Telematics, Qualcomm’s Health & Life Sciences Division, and American Medical Alert are working together to launch a 3G personal emergency response service (PERS) at the end of 2011. Lifecomm’s solution will include motion sensors and automatically initiate a call for help in the event of a fall.

STMicroelectronics’ Three MEMS Sensors Provide 10 DoF

If a single MEMS sensor is good, a system that provides 10 degrees of freedom (DoF) should be an order of magnitude better.

The three ST MEMS sensors include a geo-magnetic module, a gyroscope, and a pressure sensor. With these sensors, a consumer device can provide a complete indication of its linear acceleration, angular velocity, earth gravity, heading and altitude. The sensors provide three axes of linear motion, three axes of angular motion, three axes of magnetic motion and an altitude axis resulting in ten degrees of freedom (DoF).

In a 3 x 5 x 1mm package, the LSM303DLHC geo-magnetic module integrates three-axis sensing of linear and magnetic motion.

In a 4 x 4 x 1-mm package, the L3G4200D three-axis digital gyroscope provides output accuracy and stability over temperature and time.

While it is only available now in the 10-DoF sensor solution for evaluation, the pressure sensor provides the altimeter portion of the system. In a 3 x 3 x 1-mm package, the device has an operating pressure range of 260 – 1260 millibars. This corresponds to the atmospheric pressures between -700 and +10000m relative to sea level.

The Use of Sensing Technology in Robotics Competition

Dean Kamen, president of DEKA Research and Development Corporation was the keynote speaker and winner of the Bellwether Award at Semico Research Corporation’s Semico Summit, May 1-3 in Scottsdale, AZ. The award is presented annually to a company head for notable contributions and achievements in the semiconductor industry.  Kamen won the award for his many innovative product contributions that include the Segway, iBOT wheel chair, AutoSyringe and DEKA Arm.

However, Kamen is also the founder of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a not-for-profit organization that creates mentor-based programs designed to inspire young people to pursue the development science, engineering and technology skills. Kamen spoke to Randy Frank about the sensors in the kits for in FIRST robotics competition.

To watch the video, click here.

Motion Sensor Market Growing 20.3% Annually

All those accelerometers, gyroscopes and compasses and in mobile and gaming applications add up quickly. In fact, in the new report “Motion Sensors for Consumer & Mobile Applications,” Yole Developpement researchers expect 2009’s sales of $847M to reach $2.56B in 2015 – a 20.3% annual growth rate. Yole projects that many applications will employ 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope combined into a single package within 2015. Compasses (magnetometers) now popular in handsets will add gaming and digital still cameras (DSC) for advanced geo-tagging to the list of applications driving their usage. Over 50 companies targeting these applications will make the product offerings quite interesting and competitive.

For more information on the Yole Developpement report “Motion Sensors for Consumer & Mobile Applications,” click here.

Track Calories Burned and More with Body Monitoring System

BodyMedia FIT Armband BW, a wearable body monitoring system, uses four sensors to track thousands of data readings and display them to show users their calories burned, steps taken, physical activity and sleep duration and efficiency. Using Bluetooth wireless technology, the results can be sent to an app on the user’s smartphone (iPhone or Android) for real-time updates.  A dashboard shows the user’s results for the day and allows tracking of food intake through a database of over 30,000 items.

For more information on the BodyMedia FIT Armband BW click here.

Motion Sensing Monitors Swimming Activity

Using motion sensing technology, FINIS Swimsense Performance Monitor automatically detects and distinguishes stroke types, and records the number of laps swum, total distance, calories burned, lap time, pace and stroke count. The monitor fits in a watchband form factor and uses accelerometers, magnetometers and patent-pending proprietary algorithms to identify the user’s swim. The swimmer simply uploads swim data to the Swimsense Training Log to analyze distance, calories, different stroke types, pace, stroke count and SWOLF (swimming efficiency) score. Designed for fitness enthusiasts and recreational swimmers to elite swimmers and triathletes, they can view their current workout while they swim and up to 14 past workouts/swims on the Swimsense monitor

For more information about FINIS Swimsense Performance Monitor, click here.

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