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 actionable health data and fitness tracking, there is a strong trend to improve sensor accuracy and provide entirely new vital signs sensors. Advanced health monitoring of blood pressure, body temperature, blood glucose, and other complex vital signs is considered necessary due to the increasing interest of consumers in personal health care. However, collected health data should also be kept private and handled with care, taking into account data security and privacy.

Design challenges for wearables
Wearable design engineers today face many challenges; In addition to an ultra-compact shape, smart bracelets, watches, and other wearables require easy-to-use and intuitive visualization. Other success factors include high bandwidth connections, measurement accuracy, long life, low power consumption, and stability. As wearable and medical devices record the user’s movements in changing environments, components must be designed to perform in a variety of conditions while always providing accurate and robust pressure and motion measurements. Operators must also incorporate strong security so that users do not have to worry about personal or confidential data falling into the wrong hands. As a comprehensive semiconductor supplier, Infineon offers a wide range of microelectronics products, including sensing, computing, memory, power, and interconnect building blocks needed to produce safe and reliable wristwatches and other affordable tools. Figure 1 shows how many of these products combine into one portable design.
The feel of wearables
Wearables are an exciting brand for new sensor technologies such as the XENSIV radar chipset. Based on the 60 GHz radar sensor, a cardiovascular signal can be obtained, which enables continuous, non-invasive blood pressure measurement without the actual application of pressure. In the future, this method will allow us to detect high blood pressure at an early stage so that we can prevent and better control cardiovascular diseases. Other XENSIV sensors can monitor sports, fitness, and activity to the highest standards of quality and accuracy. For example, digital absolute barometric pressure sensors give designers the best choice when it comes to portable devices because they have small dimensions that facilitate system integration, the highest accuracy and relative accuracy over a wide temperature range, and high reading speed via I2C / SPI serial interface, and low power consumption for ensuring longer battery life.
Another example is receiving or making a phone call through a wrist device. The connection between the phone and the carrier can be made using a Bluetooth® chipset such as the AIROCTM CYW20719. Voice recording during calls can be done using MEMS microphones. The reference design provides complete audio tools such as microphone data processing and echoes cancellation software. Finally, system designers received a ready-to-use solution that could be quickly and easily integrated into their products. Last but not least, end customers have a much better user experience when calling with the wristband.

Wireless connection
Look no further, as sensors, RF, and connectivity products can further enhance the user experience with seamless connectivity and location tracking. Establishing a Wi-Fi connection between the wristband and a Wi-Fi router requires a Wi-Fi controller such as the AIROC™ combo CYW43012 low-power chip, but also high-quality RF front-end components handle the transmission speed. -frequency signal on integer. correct transfer circuit (IC). However, electrostatic discharge (ESD) from antennas can damage the equipment in use. This can be prevented with Transient Voltage Suppression (TVS) diodes and RF switches. In addition, products for more effective antenna selection, such as signal booster products, provide users with the most efficient Internet connection wherever they are.

Most wearable devices now have navigation and position tracking, which places great demands on the linearity, size, and power consumption of Global Positioning System (GPS) Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs). The evolving dual-frequency (L1 and L2 / L5) architectures can also be addressed in low-power products. With GPS LNA, fast one-time pickup, accurate location tracking, extended battery life, small size, and high performance are guaranteed.

Computer technology and security
PSoC programmable ICs address some of the more complex aspects of embedded system design, making it easier for system designers to bring products to market. The PSoC ™ 4 portfolio includes several families of Arm® Cortex®-M0 and Cortex-M0+ microcontrollers, with most devices in the portfolio using CAPSENSE ™ technology for capacitive touch sensing applications. Other key features include a customizable analog frontend via programmable analog blocks, such as wired and wireless connectivity options such as USB, CAN, and Bluetooth® Low Energy.

Portable device designers can also expect a wide range of security solutions that target different use cases. The OPTIGA family offers a wide selection of hardware trust anchors that support the authentication and protection of embedded devices. Specific members of the family, such as OPTIGA™ Connect Consumer eSIM and OPTIGA™ Authenticate IDoT, are designed to extend secure mobile connectivity to wearable devices and protect against counterfeit replacement parts by assigning a unique ID to each device. The SECORA™ Connect series brings secure technological options for near-field communication (NFC).
Completion of wearable product design
Memory, power requirements, and human-machine interface (HMI) aspects, as well as low power consumption, high reliability, and small size, are also important design aspects of the problem. Providing these capabilities in addition to the more obvious features already mentioned sets one IC provider apart from another. Figure 2 provides an integrated view of how these aspects and other features can be designed into a functional device.