Due to the complexity involved in designing good optical solutions and motion-compensated algorithms, many designers find it very difficult to develop good optical heart-rate solutions for health and fitness wearables. Customer expectations, accuracy, and longer battery life must also be considered while designing these devices. With that in mind, Maxim has developed MAX-HEALTH-BAND and MAX-ECG-MONITOR evaluation and development platforms.
“Developers creating monitoring devices don’t always have the special expertise in measurement technology, visual and mechanical industrial design, signal processing, and algorithm development. On the other hand, consumers want comfortable wearables with long battery life and reliable accuracy,” said Jussi Kaasinen, business development director at Movesense. “Fully productized and commercially available Movesense-based applications such as the MAX-ECG-MONITOR enable customers to go to market quickly, while also providing high performance and comfort.”
MAX-HEALTH-BAND
MAX-HEALTH-BAND has eliminated up to 6 months of design time typically needed for building and prototyping. The heart rate activity tracker exhibits system-level performance at the IC level and can be used to assess AFEs and power-management ICs (PMICs). Motion-compensated algorithms included in the system allows extraction of important data for health and fitness applications based on photoplethysmography (PPG) signals. Additionally, using Bluetooth, it streams algorithm output and raw data from the health sensors onto a smartphone app for customer algorithm development. Information such as heart rate, heart-rate variability, steps, and activity classification are included in the algorithm output data. For high degree of precision, the tracker collects beat-to-beat physiological data about the heart. MAX-HEALTH-BAND require less than half the power than the other solutions, enabling it to last for 7 days on a single charge. These ICs are also around one-third smaller than competitive solutions, delivering a compact form factor for users.
MAX-ECG-MONITOR
The MAX-ECG-MONITOR evaluation and development platform features the MAX30003 clinical-grade AFE. The ECG monitor provides valuable insights for clinical and fitness applications by accurately tracking ECG and heart rate. It allows developers to run their own fitness or medical ECG-based applications and algorithms. The MAX-ECG-MONITOR is part of the Movesense ecosystem for biometric and motion sensor solutions. It runs an open application programming interface (API), allowing developers to create unique in-device apps for various ECG-based use cases showing heart-rate signals at rest or during high motion activity.
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Availability and Pricing
The MAX-HEALTH-BAND can be purchased via Maxim’s website for $200. It includes Maxim’s motion-compensation algorithms as well as an Android-based app for a complete, wrist-worn activity-tracking solution; available for white-box license.
The MAX-ECG-MONITOR is available for $150. It includes an ECG module that can attach to the chest for fitness applications or wet electrode patches for clinical applications; available for white-box license.
