Delivering the Wearable WOW Factor

Wearable technology is currently taking the next step from activity trackers to holistic full-body monitoring devices.

Brings the Wearable WOW factor
Wearable technology is currently taking the next step from activity trackers to holistic whole-body monitoring devices.
Consisting of an array of advanced biometric sensors, wearable technology is currently taking the next step from activity trackers to holistic whole-body monitoring devices. For these healthcare partners, sensor accuracy is very important. As manufacturers strive to provide consumers with more and more usable data for health and fitness monitoring, there is a strong trend to improve sensor accuracy and provide entirely new sensors for monitoring vital signs. Advanced health monitoring of blood pressure, body temperature, blood glucose, and other complex vital signs are seen as a necessity due to the increasing interest of consumers in personal health care. However, collected health data must also be kept private and handled with care, so data security and privacy are important aspects to consider.

Design challenges for wearable devices
Today’s wearable device designers face many challenges; In addition to an ultra-compact shape, smart bracelets, watches, and other wearable designs must allow for ease of use and intuitive visualization. Other success factors include high bandwidth connectivity, measurement accuracy, long operational life, low power consumption, and stability. As wearables and medical devices record the user’s movements in changing environments, components must be designed to operate robustly under a variety of conditions while ensuring accurate and stable pressure and motion measurements at all times. Wearable devices should also include strong security so users don’t have to worry about personal or confidential data falling into the wrong hands. As a comprehensive semiconductor supplier, Infineon offers a range of microelectronics products, including sensing, computing, memory, power, and connectivity building blocks needed to create safe, reliable wrist-worn devices and other consumables. Figure 1 shows how many of these products are combined in a portable design.