Slated for release in early 2015, the Apple Watch will certainly raise eyebrows in many ways, possibly heralding in the consumerization of smartwatches. The company’s general mobile philosophy has been to cram more sensors into products than most of its competitors do. By integrating sensors, users not only carry a desktop computer in pocket format with them but a truly smart mobile device.
One of the more novel sensor solutions on-board the Watch can be seen on the back of its stainless steel and alumium casing: an optical system consisting of a combination of LEDs and photodiodes that gather data from both the visible and infrared spectrum.
With these sensors the Watch becomes a fitness device capable of measuring the user’s heart rate through optical sensing. In very basic terms this means shining a light through the skin of a user’s wrist and monitoring the change in blood flow in order to determine his or her pulse. It’s all about addressing today’s trend of the “Quantified Self” by continuously logging one’s daily activity as a means to improve basic fitness or even workout endurance over time. Electronic activity trackers are mostly sold as wearable bands today from the likes of Fitbit, Jawbone and Nike , but smartwatches and bands will converge at some future point. In 2014 around 10 million activity tracker bands will be sold worldwide and this figure is expected to triple in 2015. The market segment is set for exponential growth.
Lower-cost wrist bands are mostly attractive for those obsessed with tracking their activity and exercise. Yet will smartwatches such as Apple’s Watch also address real patients or the elderly who’s medication regime depends on regular and accurate monitoring of heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels (oximetry) or even blood sugar (glucose)? Two announcements provide some clues on this potential. Firstly, Apple has silently been hiring medical sensor experts over the past few years. The Apple Insider article identifies that a number of these hires were previously employed with serious medical companies. Secondly, Apple has filed a slew of patents related to medical monitoring over the past years. Patently Apple reports on several health and biometric-related patents in this area. Skeptics however purport that accurately measuring heart rate, as an example, is a big leap from the techniques that fitness trackers employ, maintaining that doctors rely on electrical not optical measurements for accuracy. Wearing a device on one’s wrist for correct pulse tracking requires it to be strapped very tightly so the sensor cannot move around during measurements. In addition, as users who measure blood pressure know, wrist measurements can be off from their true value by quite a bit because blood flows a lot slower by the time it reaches the body’s peripheral zones like the wrist. Many open questions and much room for speculation remain. Mike Nicholls of startup88 provides some “can’ts” why the Watch won’t cut it on the medical front. Are there any cans?
Whilst accuracy imposes certain onerous requirements, it’s probably shortsighted to brush off the Watch’s possibly far-reaching medical potential. Point in case: today’s smartphones do not determine user location single-handedly by satellite (GPS) but in combination with input from other embedded sensors. Using complex calculations, data from their accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer predict the user’s current position based on his previous one if a GPS signal is not available (dead reckoning). Multiple sensors termed as a sensor hub in combination with a power-friendly, always-on dedicated processor running signal processing algorithms can work sensor magic - possibly even medical magic. The Apple Watch is rumoured to have more than 10 sensors and will most likely also feature a motion coprocessor like the M7 (iPhone 5S) or M8 (iPhone 6). Combined with Apple’s talent pool of medical expertise it’s highly likely we can expect some surprises on the road ahead. If not in a 1st generation Watch, then for sure in its later product cycles.
One of the more novel sensor solutions on-board the Watch can be seen on the back of its stainless steel and alumium casing: an optical system consisting of a combination of LEDs and photodiodes that gather data from both the visible and infrared spectrum.
Apple Watch’s LEDs and photodiodes for heart rate measurement
Photo courtesy of Apple, Inc.
The smartwatch as a meaningful medical device
Lower-cost wrist bands are mostly attractive for those obsessed with tracking their activity and exercise. Yet will smartwatches such as Apple’s Watch also address real patients or the elderly who’s medication regime depends on regular and accurate monitoring of heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels (oximetry) or even blood sugar (glucose)? Two announcements provide some clues on this potential. Firstly, Apple has silently been hiring medical sensor experts over the past few years. The Apple Insider article identifies that a number of these hires were previously employed with serious medical companies. Secondly, Apple has filed a slew of patents related to medical monitoring over the past years. Patently Apple reports on several health and biometric-related patents in this area. Skeptics however purport that accurately measuring heart rate, as an example, is a big leap from the techniques that fitness trackers employ, maintaining that doctors rely on electrical not optical measurements for accuracy. Wearing a device on one’s wrist for correct pulse tracking requires it to be strapped very tightly so the sensor cannot move around during measurements. In addition, as users who measure blood pressure know, wrist measurements can be off from their true value by quite a bit because blood flows a lot slower by the time it reaches the body’s peripheral zones like the wrist. Many open questions and much room for speculation remain. Mike Nicholls of startup88 provides some “can’ts” why the Watch won’t cut it on the medical front. Are there any cans?
Many sensors make light work
Whilst accuracy imposes certain onerous requirements, it’s probably shortsighted to brush off the Watch’s possibly far-reaching medical potential. Point in case: today’s smartphones do not determine user location single-handedly by satellite (GPS) but in combination with input from other embedded sensors. Using complex calculations, data from their accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer predict the user’s current position based on his previous one if a GPS signal is not available (dead reckoning). Multiple sensors termed as a sensor hub in combination with a power-friendly, always-on dedicated processor running signal processing algorithms can work sensor magic - possibly even medical magic. The Apple Watch is rumoured to have more than 10 sensors and will most likely also feature a motion coprocessor like the M7 (iPhone 5S) or M8 (iPhone 6). Combined with Apple’s talent pool of medical expertise it’s highly likely we can expect some surprises on the road ahead. If not in a 1st generation Watch, then for sure in its later product cycles.
