ActiGraph, a leading provider of medical-grade physical activity and sleep monitoring solutions, has selected Oslo, Norway-based Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52832 Bluetooth 5/Bluetooth LE System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide wireless connectivity for its CentrePoint Insight Watch. The watch is designed to be used by organizations conducting clinical trials, as well as academic health researchers.
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The watch bears the form factor of a smartwatch. It is water resistant and has a backlit date/time display and a push button interface. The CentrePoint Insight Watch uses a triaxial MEMS accelerometer to deliver detailed feedback on the user’s activity intensity, energy expenditure, steps taken, and sleep efficiency. The watch employs Nordic’s nRF52832 Wafer Level Chip Scale Package (WL-CSP) SoC to periodically transmit the data from the device to the company’s CentrePoint Cloud platform, says a press release.
Using the nRF52832 WL-CSP SoC’s Bluetooth 5 support, including 2x on-air raw data bandwidth (2Mbps) and an improved channel coexistence algorithm, the watch can rapidly send large amounts of data. The 210mAh Li-Poly battery provides up to 40 days of continuous use between recharge with wireless connectivity enabled and a download of approximately 10MB of data per day. The nRF52832’s fully-automatic power management system reduces power consumption by up to 80% compared with Nordic’s nRF51 Series SoCs.
The CentrePoint Cloud platform allows researchers to remotely monitor and manage participants’ data, wear compliance, identify potential data trends, as well as generate customized data reports, and manage audit trails. A CentrePoint application programming interface (API) also makes it possible to integrate ActiGraph data directly into a client’s own proprietary or third-party electronic data capture (EDC) platform.
The nRF52832 WL-CSP SoC measures just 3.0 by 3.2mm and forms a powerful multiprotocol solution ideally suited for Bluetooth LE and 2.4GHz ultra low-power wireless applications, while offering all the features of the conventionally packaged SoC.
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“Key to our decision to select the nRF52832 WL-CSP SoC was its very early support of the increased data rates of Bluetooth 5, but we also chose the chip due to its size, price, availability, and functionality,” says Jeremy Wyatt, Chief Technology Officer and Senior VP of Product Development, ActiGraph.
“Nordic is a clear leader in this space, and because ActiGraph is constantly operating on the ‘bleeding edge’ of this technology, Nordic is a good fit. We look forward to a continued partnership with Nordic as we push the envelope in terms of raw data transfer to help our clients develop and utilize digital biomarkers.”
