Low-Power Microcontroller Provides Superior Precision and the Highest Level of Security for Wellness Metric Measurements

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Demonstrating its commitment to the wearables market, Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) will preview its Wellness Platform at electronica 2014. The new Wellness Platform is a suite of design hardware and software, including the WASP/MAX32600 microcontroller unit (MCU), for wearable medical applications. Using this flexible and scalable platform, designers will be able to optimize wellness device performance and lower their R&D costs, all while meeting stringent time-to-market requirements.

Wearable medical and fitness devices empower people to live healthier lives. To enable the comfort, wearability, and effectiveness of new body-worn devices, Maxim is coordinating a company-wide initiative to develop products for wearable solutions. The Wellness Platform provides power and battery management, digital processing, highly integrated sensors, ultra-low-power communications, and industry-leading security. With wellness applications developing quickly, Maxim will continue to expand this product portfolio.

At the heart of the Wellness Platform is MAX32600, a highly integrated ARM^® Cortex^®-M3 low-power microcontroller with high-precision analog performance. Its integrated Trust Protection Unit provides the highest level of security with onboard public key authentication, data encryption, and tamper detection. This integrated security ensures that data cannot be compromised. Requiring minimal discretes, the onboard, highly configurable analog front-end (AFE) includes high current LED drivers and facilitates one or more wellness metric measurements, such as heart rate monitoring (HRM) and galvanic skin response (GSR). The MAX32600 is available in 192-ball, 12mm x 12mm CTBGA, 120-ball, 7mm x 7mm CTBGA, and 108-ball WLP packages.

Demonstration platform examples:
The Wellness Platform is architected with several body measurements in mind, all of which will be exhibited as demonstration platform examples at electronica 2014.

• The Wellness Watch, co-developed with Logic PD, is a low-power, highly integrated, sleek wearable watch incorporating several components from the platform. It allows users to monitor heart rate, oxygen level, movement, position, temperature, and mood response.
• The Pulse Oximetry Patch measures blood oxygen content saturation while residing in an unobtrusive, mobile unit.
• The Fit 2 Shirt, which communicates over a Bluetooth^® connection, measures electrocardiogram response, blood pressure, temperature, blood oxygen content, heart rate, and activity level to provide the ultimate wearable fitness experience. It is smaller, more accurate, more secure, and has a longer battery life than its previous generation.
• The NFC Temperature Patch, featuring the MAX66242 DeepCover^® Secure Authenticator chip, is a passive NFC tag that remotely measures temperature while using energy harvesting as the power source.

Additional components to the Wellness Platform:

• The MAX14676 is a tiny power- and battery-management solution that saves space with a high level of integration. It provides the longest wear time to extend the battery life of wearable electronics by providing the lowest power during sleep modes and the highest efficiencies during run modes.
• The MAX21100, a monolithic 3-axis gyroscope plus 3-axis accelerometer Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), provides low power and accuracy. It is the industry's smallest and thinnest 6DoF IMU with a stable, accurate gyroscope and a reliable accelerometer.
• The MAX30100 is a fully integrated optical biosensor. It combines two LEDs, photodetector, optimized optics, and low-noise analog front end, providing the industry's smallest and lowest power pulse oximeter and heart-rate solution.
• The MAX66242 secure authenticator is a dual interface tag IC that combines an ISO front end with an I²C circuit block on a single chip. Its SHA-256 engine runs a symmetric key-based bidirectional secure authentication scheme for counterfeit and cloning protection.

A Product on Module (PoM) board and a separate application board with medical wellness sensors is being created using components from the Wellness Platform. This board will program the ARM microcontroller, configure built-in analog peripherals, operate with built-in security, drive the RF links and sensors, and manage the system power. The PoM board will be an easy-to-use, high-quality turnkey solution for a wide range of customers. Communication, sensors, and human machine interface functions are integrated so the user has a complete system-level solution. To achieve scalability, the PoM will be compatible with multiple application boards through the expansion connector. An Android^® demo GUI application running on a smartphone or tablet will be available to chart the readings from the PoM.

Commentary

• "Wearable technology continues to advance in the health and wellness sectors. Today the MAX32600 MCU is an important component for battery-powered applications where size, weight, performance, and power are critical," said Logic PD CTO and EVP Scott Nelson, Ph.D. "Its power consumption, high processing speed, and integrated security features result in a high-functioning, dependable device for consumers."

Maxim provides a full ecosystem of partners available to develop various medical products, including partners for software, wearable textiles, and full medical product design. A hi-res image of the Wellness Platform is available.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

electronica 2014
To see the Wellness Watch and other demonstration platform examples, visit Maxim at electronica 2014 in Munich, Germany from November 11-14. Maxim will be located in hall A4, stand 266. For more information, please visit http://www.electronica.de.

About Maxim Integrated
Maxim is the leader in analog integration. From mobile to industrial solutions, we're making analog smaller, smarter, and more energy efficient. Learn more at www.maximintegrated.com.  

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