Wearable health monitors and the environments these devices are demanded to perform in put pressure on the system designer to ensure that these systems are always accurate and reliable. This is especially critical in medical-crossover applications like wellness monitoring and performance training, where inaccurate information can lead to possible physical damage. A major issue is that wearable health monitors encounter real-world conditions that are often vastly different from the specifications usually followed when making consumer products. 

Maxim Integrated has addressed these issues and more with the MAX86141 optical pulse oximeter and heart-rate sensor. The MAX86141 is an alternative way to optically detect heart rate, oxygen saturation, and muscle oxygen saturation using two photodiode detectors simultaneously instead of several sequentially, which provides a couple of advantages.