At the IEEE’s International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2008 in San Francisco this week, Abingdon, UK’s Toumaz Technology Limited delivered a paper on its Sensium system that is designed to work with wireless body sensor networks to monitor vital body signs. The paper, entitled "A 1V Micropower System-on-Chip for Vital Sign Monitoring in Wireless Body Sensor Networks", will describe its groundbreaking Sensium sensor interface and transceiver platform, which enables intelligent, real-time, ultra-low power wireless monitoring of multiple vital signs – such as ECG, heart rate, body temperature, respiration and physical activity – via standard handheld devices such as mobile phones.
Designed for medical wireless body sensor network, also termed body area network (BAN), Toumaz researchers have combined ultra-low power wireless and signal processing in one small system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that integrates an ultra-low-power wireless ISM band transceiver, hardware MAC, microprocessor, I/O peripherals, memories, 10b Δ∑ ADC and custom sensor interfaces. The chip, implemented in 0.13μm CMOS and occupying 16 mm2, operates from supply voltages as low as 0.9 V and is a disposable platform solution for BAN.
Using its SoC, the company is developing a body worn sensor that it calls digital plaster. When worn by the patient, this digital plaster or band-aid can continuously monitor multiple health signs, such as heart rate, body temperature, pulse rate and respiration and transfer that data to a basestation where medical record is kept.
While the work on its digital plaster continues, the developer has also inked a strategic development and distribution deal with a major US healthcare service provider. Although, its OEM partner was not identified, Toumaz said that the US partner will help in gaining regulatory approvals, manufacturing, marketing and distribution.
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