Platform sends data from wearables up to 24 km away

The healthcare sector no longer questions the importance of using wearable devices with sensors to monitor biological signals as allies in treatments. It is already well known that they provide valuable information for predicting, diagnosing and treating a variety of conditions at ever lower costs. However, there is still a limitation which, if overcome, could greatly multiply the positive effects of this technology: the transmission of data over long distances, even from rural communities with few resources.

Currently, non-invasive wearable devices generally use the Internet to connect doctors to patient data for aggregation and research. “These Internet-based communication protocols are effective and well-developed, but they require cellular or other coverage in addition to traditional power sources,” explains Philipp Gutruf, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Arizona’s College of Engineering who led the study. “These requirements often leave people in remote environments or with limited resources underserved.”

With a view to shortening these distances, a group of researchers from the University of Arizona has developed a platform capable of sending data from wearable devices to locations up to 24 km away, much further than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth systems can reach and, more importantly, without significant investments in infrastructure. The communication network uses LoRa radio frequency and low power consumption technology, which reaches distances 2,400 times greater than those reached by Wi-Fi and 533 times those reached by Bluetooth, according to the researchers’ calculations. The choice of LoRa also helped overcome the limitations associated with energy and electromagnetic restrictions. The hope is to make access to digital health more equitable.

The new platform also uses wearables designed by the researchers themselves, 3D printed using soft elastomers and flexible electronics fitted to the patients. The wearable devices are powered wirelessly to facilitate continuous reading of the biosignals and worn on the underside of the forearm so discreetly that they look like part of the body. Because they are so imperceptible, the researchers have called these wearables symbiotic bios. Also part of the proposed platform are a specific protocol, circuits and an antenna that make it possible to send data to the receiver over long distances. The batteries can be recharged from more than 2 meters away.

“The simple electronics and the device’s ability to capture energy are essential to the performance of this unprecedented monitoring system,” comments Gutruf. According to the researcher, the device allows continuous operation for weeks due to the wireless power transfer feature for recharging without interaction, all carried out in a small package that even includes integrated calculation of health metrics.

The intention is to extend communication distances even further by implementing LoRa network gateways that could serve hundreds of square kilometers of area and hundreds of device users, using only a small number of connection points. “This effort is not just a scientific endeavor, but a step towards making digital medicine more accessible, regardless of geographical and resource constraints,” says Gutruf.

The engineering concepts of the new system were presented in an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Wearables market

Worldwide shipments of wearable devices grew by 2.6% during the third quarter of 2023 (3Q23) year-on-year and reached an all-time high for the period of 148.4 million units, according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC). The total volume even surpassed shipments in 3Q21 (142.1 million) and 3Q22 (144.6 million), when sales were boosted by pandemic-related spending. The growth is largely attributable to the rise of smaller brands and emerging categories.

“It’s been a decade since the wearables market took off, and while there has been some consolidation, there is still a lot of diversity in terms of brands and form factors,” explains Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for Consumer Devices and Mobility at IDC. “Monitoring health conditions and fitness has come a long way since the first Fitbits and Pebble watches, but the main driver of wearables has been the emergence of smaller, sleeker designs. Smart rings from newer brands such as Oura, Noise, BoAT, Circular and others are expected to introduce new formats in the coming quarters, pushing other brands to innovate in terms of health monitoring.”

“Smartwatches and headphones still occupy a prominent place in the wearables market,” adds Ramon Llamas, research director for Mobile Devices and AR/VR at IDC. “They still find space among consumers and continue to attract the attention of first-time users, especially among the more cautious and price-sensitive. This is where we can still see emerging vendors producing volumes large enough to be ranked among leading brands. This, combined with solid upgrade cycles, means that the wearables market continues to turn the wheel with intensity to keep shipments growing.”