Maxim demos target IoT control
October 2014 – Maxim Integrated held an AE and press demo event to show off their new kits for the for the Internet of Things (IoT) product area. These new kits were targeted at wellness and medical electronics as well as standard industrial control. The wellness products had the highlight of the second-generation FIT2 which is the smart shirt with integrated sensors that is used to exercise. They were also showing a wellness watch and a pulse oximeter that connects to mobile devices.
Maxim Fit Shirt 2 – wearable sensor system
The fit to shirt features temperature sensors on the wrist and arm that give ambient temperature of the free air and the temperature of the body as well as reporting on heart rate and pulse ox. The shirt can tell movement from resting and even sleep patterns. The design currently does not support altitude as that would require a pressure sensor or nine axis motion sensor. The shirt features power control chips sensors a display remote connection battery and SDK to develop applications and is available as a reference design. The reference design in includes full bill of materials, approved vendor list, and all of the design documentation for the board and connection layout. These connections include antenna placement and size. The key to using the system is the inclusion by Maxim for the algorithms of all the sensors and controllers with the SDK.
Also available is a smart watch which features a lot of the same capabilities, including the reference design, and is targeted for use with the android operating system. The use of the android operating system allows third-party applications to be developed that can utilize the data returned from the system to be able to make current and historic use displays of the wellness data. In this function the system can be used to create a single design high reliability pulse oximeter if needed.
Maxim Temperature Sensor configuration
At another table, they were showing an additional wellness product. This was a medical thermal patch that was completely and had energy harvesting technology. Based on the Maxim 31725 temperature control chip the system and using a 13.56 MHz NFC communication interface, the system is able to communicate with the reader to deliver accurate temperature with it with a +/-0.2° C absolute level and a differential temperature of 0.05° C. The patch is a disposable system that can be used in read from a distance, so infectious patients or those in contained enclosures, can have their temperature read by a nurse from a distance. The distance for the NFC system is determined by the size of the antenna that is put on the device and is limited by the size of the patch that is used. For security the communication system uses a shot encryption and feed the data through an eye to see master and this allows compatibility with HIPPA encryption rules. Like the fit shirt this design comes with a full software SDK, bill of materials, approved vendor list, and all of the design documentation including the PCB board layout.
In addition to the wellness devices they were showing industrial applications built around the MAX35101 which is being used in a flow measurement application. Typical flow measurement applications cannot detect drips that are going to the system if the pipe that is carrying the liquid remains full and there isn’t a large enough differential liquid loss to measure this environment with the new controller allows them to detect very small changes and allows them to discriminate between standard flow and leaks. This can also be used to detect temperatures and display the information of the liquid all with the same chip.
