STMicroelectronics and Valencell Announce Collaboration on Highly Accurate and Powerful Biometric Sensor Platform for Wearables and IoT

RALEIGH, N.C. and GENEVA, Dec, 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Valencell, the leading innovator in performance biometric data sensor technology, and STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, announced today the launch of a new, highly accurate and scalable development kit for biometric wearables that includes ST's compact SensorTile turnkey multi-sensor module integrated with Valencell's Benchmark™ biometric sensor system. Together, SensorTile and Benchmark deliver the most useful portfolio of sensors to support the most advanced wearable use cases.

The SensorTile is a tiny IoT (Internet of Things) module (13.5mm x 13.5mm) that packs on board a powerful STM32L4 microcontroller, a Bluetooth® Low Energy chipset, a wide spectrum of high-accuracy motion and environmental MEMS sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, pressure, temperature sensor), and a digital MEMS microphone.

Integrating ST's SensorTile development kit with Valencell's Benchmark sensor technology simplifies the prototyping, evaluation, and development of innovative wearable and IoT solutions by delivering a complete Valencell PerformTek^® technology package, ready for immediate integration and delivery into wearable devices. The collaboration with ST expands on previous work that incorporated the company's STM32 MCUs and sensors into Valencell's Benchmark sensor system.

"Valencell's Benchmark solution leverages the high accuracy of ST's MEMS sensor technology along with SensorTile's miniature form factor, flexibility, and STM32 Open Development Environment-based ecosystem," said Tony Keirouz, Vice President Marketing and Applications, Microcontrollers, Security, and Internet of Things, STMicroelectronics. "Combined, SensorTile and Benchmark enable wearable makers to quickly and easily develop the perfect product for any application that integrates highly accurate biometrics."

"Working with ST has allowed us to bring together the best of all sensors required to support the most advanced wearable use cases through our groundbreaking Benchmark sensor system," said Dr. Steven LeBoeuf, president and co-founder of Valencell. "What attracted us to the SensorTile was the flexibility of the platform and the ultra-low power consumption, which will enable our customers to create highly-accurate and powerful wearables and hearables in any form factor."

At just over 180mm², STMicroelectronics' SensorTile is currently the smallest turnkey sensor board of its type, and it is jam-packed with a MEMS accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, pressure sensor, and a MEMS microphone. With the on-board low-power STM32L4 microcontroller, it can be used as a sensing and connectivity hub for developing firmware and shipping in products such as wearables, gaming accessories, and smart-home or IoT devices.

Adding to its features, SensorTile has a complete Bluetooth® Low Energy transceiver including a miniature single-chip balun on-board, as well as a broad set of system interfaces. It can be simply plugged to a host board, and when powered it immediately starts streaming inertial, audio, and environmental data to ST's BlueMS smartphone app that can be downloaded free of charge from popular app stores.

The market leader, Valencell's PerformTek^® sensor systems provide accurate, robust and flexible technology, powering more biometric hearables and wearables. The technology gives wearable and hearable devices the ability to continuously and accurately measure blood flow signals, even during extreme physical activity or when the optical signals are weak. These signals can be translated into biometric data, including continuous heart rate, VO2 and VO2 max, resting heart rate, heart rate response, heart rate recovery, continuous energy expenditure (calorie burn), cardiac efficiency and heart rate variability assessments.

STMicroelectronics and Valencell will showcase the new integrated development kit at CES in the Valencell Booth # 44330 and in a private STMicroelectronics suite.

About STMicroelectronics
ST is a global semiconductor leader delivering intelligent and energy-efficient products and solutions that power the electronics at the heart of everyday life. ST's products are found everywhere today, and together with our customers, we are enabling smarter driving and smarter factories, cities and homes, along with the next generation of mobile and Internet of Things devices.

By getting more from technology to get more from life, ST stands for life.augmented. In 2015, the Company's net revenues were $6.90 billion, serving more than 100,000 customers worldwide. Further information can be found at www.st.com.

About Valencell
Valencell develops performance biometric sensor technology and licenses this patent-protected technology to consumer electronics manufacturers, wearable and hearable device makers, sports and fitness brands, medical device makers, and gaming companies for integration into their products. Valencell's PerformTek^® biometric sensor technology employs active signal characterization, the process of segmenting raw signal data from biometric sensors into biological, motion, and environmental signals and noise. Valencell has invested years into the research and development of its PerformTek sensor technology, protected by dozens of granted patents and independently validated by the Duke Center for Living, North Carolina State University, the Human Performance Laboratory and a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.

SOURCE Valencell

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http://www.valencell.com