Being a crossfit junkie, I regularly plan my meals a week at a time, check labels for complicated, hard-to-pronounce ingredients, and track my workouts in a journal. I’ve tried several fitness monitoring apps available on my phone, but have been left dissatisfied due to the inaccuracies in the data collected. However, as a result in a recent conversation with Dr. Steven LeBoeuf, founder and president of Valencell in Raleigh, NC, there still may be room for me on the fitbit health monitoring bandwagon.
Valencell is a company that develops performance biometric data sensor technology, and licenses its patent-protected technology to consumer electronics manufacturers in various industries.
The PerformTek technology powers a variety of wearable devices with highly accurate, continuous heart rate monitoring, providing information on oxygen consumption and cadence. It can be integrated into mobile devices, allowing consumers to use it for gaming, fitness performance, and coaching.
The PerformTek’s main component is an ultra-miniature optomechanical sensor module that includes an optical emitter and detector, specialized optomechanics, and an accelerometer. The sensor module is small enough to fit into an audio earbud, which allows users to accurately measure calories, speed, and distance, as well as develop personalized hear rate zones. It measures blood flow parameters by shining a light at the skin with the optical emitter, sensing the scattered light with a photodetector, and removing noise signals associated with motion artifacts and environmental exposure from the photodetector signal.
The data collected by the sensor from the earbud gets communicated to the phone via Bluetooth or direct-wired connection.
What makes Valencell a unique company is that it doesn’t manufacture or sell its own products, but offers a three-part, patent-protected licensing package that includes optomechanical biometric sensor designs, a DSP chip with biometric firmware, and access to an online community through Valencell’s application programming interface.
The PerformTek technology was recently recognized at the 2014 NC Tech Awards, winning the Health and Wellness Award, and has received validation from the Human Performance Laboratory, Duke Center for the Living, North Carolina State University, and from a fellow at the American College of Sports Medicine.
While the PerformTek technology may sound familiar, its level of accuracy is truly revolutionary to the market and proven by brand names, such as Jabra, Intel, and LG, making it “the pulse of the wearable world”.
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)
