COVER STORY
Healthcare takes centre stage with product innovation for wearable products
Healthcare remains firmly under the spotlight during the current pandemic. It has always been a key part of decision and policy making for governments around the globe and is even more so now as we get to grips with the current crisis and plan for a future where the delivery of health services will have to adapt at an ever increasing pace. Technology will play a key part in the ability to cope with future pandemics as well as the growing demand for healthcare services from an aging population as average life expectancies increase. Matthew Johnson, Divisional Marketing Manager at Anglia takes a look at two products from Analog Devices innovative technology product portfolio which when coupled with Analog Devices and Anglia’s system expertise are helping to shape the future of healthcare and creating solutions that positively impact people’s lives.
Healthcare in the 21st Century
Analog Devices have vast experience in the healthcare sector with their products designed and specified for a wide range of health applications in critical care environments measuring vital signs and disease management through to life sciences and imaging systems. More recently they have continued to release innovative products for the emerging segments of the healthcare market which encompasses consumer fitness bands and sport watches along with Telemedicine healthcare wearable devices that integrate biomedical features that would typically only have been found in a hospital setting a decade ago. A recent Age UK study published in 2019 projects the number of people aged over 85 in the UK will nearly double between 2017 to 2040, this is the age group most likely to require health and care services. Telemedicine technology will become an important part of the strategy to deliver health and care services effectively. For example a wearable device which can monitor vital signs, oxygen saturation (SpO2) and activity levels of a patient and then report this data in real-time via a point-of-care cloud connected system to a clinician, could provide early warning signs of health issues which
may be more effectively treated when caught early. This real-time monitoring can be done outside of a normal healthcare environment allowing the patient to retain their independence within the community whilst at the same time reducing pressure on hospital or care home services.
Vital Signs Monitoring
The AD5940 from Analog Devices is a high precision analog front end (AFE) designed for electrochemical- based measurement techniques, like amperometric, voltametric, and impedance measurements that enable the next generation of vital sign monitoring devices and intelligent electrochemical sensors. The analog front end has an ultralow power mode to support portable and battery-powered systems. In addition to this, the device can support high performance and diagnostic-based applications such as those found widely in clinical and lab environments.
The AD5940 AFE incorporates both potentiostat and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) functionality on a single chip, allowing for sensor measurement in both time and frequency domains. The device features integrated hardware accelerators for advanced sensor
Figure 1. AD5940 bioelectric system with biopotential and bioimpedance measurement.
Figure 2. EDA or GSR measurement principle
diagnostics, best-in-class low noise for accurate sensor measurements and is designed for low power wearable “always-on” applications.
The AD5940 is designed around three key building blocks: an input receive signal-chain, a waveform generator plus transmit channel, and a sequencer with a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) engine to measure complex impedances. Depending on the use-case, the excitation loop with receiver channel can be configured differently. Compared to traditional discrete solutions which pose limitations and require multiple ICs to achieve similar performance, Analog Devices AD5940 AFE single chip solution offers advantages in terms of system accuracy and size flexibility to measure 2-Lead, 3-Lead and 4-Lead electrochemical sensors.
One target application for the AD5940 AFE is monitoring patient stress or mental health by electrodermal activity (EDA) or galvanic skin response (GSR). Monitoring the mental state or stress of a patient is important, since it is proven over time stress might result in chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiac problems, or cancer. When people become stressed, the sympathetic nervous system of the human body activates sweat glands in the skin which has
8 September 2020
Components in Electronics
www.cieonline.co.uk
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