The platform revolutionizes health and fitness technology assessment, efficiently tracking motion, temperature, and biopotentials and adapting to future innovations.
Maxim creates sophisticated solutions for medical and advanced fitness industries, primarily from its diverse product lines. To expedite customer evaluation of these solutions and assist with their design processes, Maxim introduced the “hSensor” platform. This integrated sensor platform allows customers to quickly and easily assess Maxim’s application offerings. It’s also designed to be adaptable, integrating upcoming solutions, whether currently in design or planned for future development.
The hSensor platform is equipped to handle an array of measurements critical to healthcare and fitness technologies. These include motion tracking, precise skin temperature measurement, and various biopotential assessments such as electrocardiography (ECG), electromyography (EMG), and electroencephalography (EEG). Additionally, it supports multiple reflective photoplethysmography measurements like pulse oximetry and heart rate detection, utilizing three wavelengths: 880nm (infrared), 660nm (red), and 537nm (green).
For fitness applications, the platform accommodates chest-based systems such as chest straps equipped with heart rate (HR) monitors and those that combine HR with electrocardiography (ECG). Wrist-based applications include smartwatches with optical HR sensors. Additionally, ear-based applications, such as headphones integrated with optical HR monitoring, are supported.
The platform can be used in clinical settings for chest-based applications like 1-lead ECG patches designed for arrhythmia detection, which track both ECG and HR. It also supports skin temperature measurements. Finger-based applications on the platform include optical SpO2 measurement, and both ear-based and head-based applications can measure optical HR and SpO2. Lastly, arm-based applications are covered with armbands that incorporate ECG capabilities. These versatile applications highlight the platform’s broad adaptability in monitoring and diagnostic contexts.
The platform is compatible with GUI applications on both Windows-based PCs and Android devices, facilitating accessible data collection and visualization. It supports a direct USB connection via a USB Type-C connector and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for configuring and gathering data. Additionally, the platform offers a direct-to-flash memory mode for data collection, which can read flash memory via a USB connection.
At the heart of the hSensor platform is the MAX32620 microcontroller. This system is equipped with a range of sensors, including the MAX30003/MAX30004 biopotential analogue front-end (AFE) for biopotential measurements, the MAX30205 sensor for human body temperature, and the MAX30101 for pulse oximetry and heart rate monitoring. It also includes the LIS2DH 3-axis accelerometer, the LSM6DS3, which combines a 3D accelerometer and a 3D gyroscope, and the BMP280 sensor for measuring absolute barometric pressure. These components collectively enhance the platform’s capability to monitor various health parameters efficiently.
Maxim has tested this reference design. It comes with a bill of materials (BOM), schematics, assembly drawing, printed circuit board (PCB) layout, and more. The company’s website has additional data about the reference design. To read more about this reference design, click here.
