Coming built with innovative 3- respectively 6-axis inertial MEMS sensors, Bosch Sensortec’s DSP ‘Fuser Core’, accelerometers, the devices are a sort of MCUS that fuse photoplethysmography (PPG) signals with the onboard inertial MEMS sensors signals to do motion compensated heart rate measurement.
As its built-in DSP FuserCore powers Firstbeat’s vital analytics software, they allow shoes wears to get valuable insights about their wellbeing and fitness level.
The BHV160 also includes a gyroscope.
The Android Wear-compatible sensor hubs are the components with the lowest power consumption available on the market today, helping to significantly extend system battery life time.
The sensor hubs have tiny footprints that are indispensable for applications where space is tight. The BHV160 measures 3 x 3 x 0.95 mm, while the BHV250 only a mere 2.2 x 2.2 x 0.95 mm.
Samples are available today to qualified customers. Mass production is scheduled to start in Q2 2016.
It targets wearable market line fitness wristbands, earphones and smart textiles.
As a complete sensor solution, they feature ultra-low power consumption in a compact package, with integrated software and a wide-range support for different PPG chipsets.
The integrated software from Firstbeat processes raw sensor data to open up a world of motion-compensated vital monitoring, activity recognition applications and gesture based user interfaces.
The unique combination of the Bosch’s Vital Sensor Hubs with Firstbeat’s extensive vital analytics software enables a rich user experience by providing the tools for sleep analysis, calorie consumption calculation, fitness training evaluation, and "stress and recovery" monitoring.
The myriad of future applications is only limited by the designer's imagination.
“With this all-round sensor subsystem, our customers can now focus on providing added value to their end users, confident in the knowledge that they have a highly integrated, ultra-low power solution”, said Jeanne Forget-Funk, VP Marketing at Bosch Sensortec. “With the fitness tracking and wearables markets expanding so rapidly, we await with great interest the explosion of innovation that will be triggered by this technology”.
“Firstbeat’s revolutionary analytics software creates a digital model of a user’s physiology through advanced modeling of heart function and heart rate variability (HRV)”, said Joni Kettunen, CEO and Co-founder of Firstbeat. “The Bosch sensor subsystem provides the accurate data and flexible programmability that enables our software to deliver new insights to users at ultra-low power consumption”.
According to market research firm IDC, total shipments of wearable devices will reach some 214 million units in 2019.