Samsung Brings an All-in-One Chip for Wearable Devices

With the advancement of technology, a number of components for mobile products are constantly becoming smaller in size. The smaller size henceforth led the manufacturers to design wearables that act as multipurpose gadgets as users can not only wear them, but they can also be used to measure some fitness-related data. The only obstruction that hinders the actual measurements to come is the lack of proper hardware integration. Taking into consideration this fact, Samsung started including heart-rate monitor and similar other health-based apps in their smart phones and smart watches alike. To make it easier for the users to read all of the data from these devices, they also created the S-Health app.

Adding a cherry on the cake, the company has now come up with another new processor that is exclusively designed to measure much more than the heart-rate or step-counting. The new chip the company has now come forward with is termed as Bio-Processor and is extensively used in wearable devices for health conscious users and for those who wish to keep a track of their fitness on a daily basis. According to Samsung, there is a growing market of people that want to manage their health by monitoring bio-data and fitness data. Ben K. Hur, Vice President of marketing, System LSI business at Samsung Electronics said, Samsung’s Bio-Processor, which can process five different biometric signals, is the most versatile health and fitness monitoring chip available on the market today and is expected to open up many new health-based service options for our customers.

When we talk about hardware, a normal preconception in the mind of a user is usage of endless long wires connected to each other, but the new Bio-Processor integrates the Analog Front Ends (AFE) with the microcontroller unit (MCU), power management integrated circuit (PMIC), digital signal processor (DSP), and eFlash memory, so no external parts are required to measure bio-signals. In addition, to all this, even the processor is really compact that makes it a great advantage for wearable devices.

If we look into the advantages the new processor comes equipped with, it can now measure body fat, skeletal muscle mass, heart rate and rhythm, skin temperature and stress levels (if any). All these factors are bound to contribute to the popularity of these wearable devices among users. To showcase what the processor is capable of Samsung has built some reference platforms such as wristbands, boards and patches and reports claim that the processor is being developed in mass production. The Bio-Processor is expected to be integrated into wearable devices in the first-half of 2016 and though this processor is solely being developed by Samsung, one must not be surprised if the same processor is being used by some additional manufacturers.