Bluetooth LE smartband tracks detailed fitness metrics for up to ten days between charges | Electronics Maker

Titan Company’s Fastrack Reflex 3.0 smartband employs Nordic’s nRF52832 SoC to process and transmit fitness data to smartphone app

Nordic Semiconductor today announces that India’s leading lifestyle brand and a member of the Tata group, Titan Company Limited, has selected Nordic’s nRF52832 Bluetooth® 5.2/Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) general purpose multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide the core processing power and wireless connectivity for its ‘Fastrack Reflex 3.0’ smartband. 

24/7 continuous heart rate monitoring

Featuring a full-touch color display, more than ten different sports modes, a 24/7 continuous heart rate monitor and sleep tracker, the Fastrack Reflex 3.0 smartband is provided in an IP67-rated silicone housing with a range of dual color straps, and has been designed for the youth-oriented fitness market. The smartband records a range of user data—including step count, calories burned, distance run or cycled—and relays this to a partner app on the user’s Bluetooth 4.0 (and later) smartphone using the Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity provided by the nRF52832 SoC. From the smartband the user can also remotely control smartphone functionality, for example operate the camera or music playback, as well as view notification alerts. 

Once the smartband has been paired with the user’s smartphone, the wearer can analyze their activity and sleep patterns from the iOS and Android ‘Fastrack Reflex Word’ app, with detailed daily fitness and sleep statistics, as well as a full monthly report. Sleep and step goals can be set through the smartband or app, and ‘Z points’ are earned by completing various fitness tasks. These points are then collated, and rank the user local and globally, to provide a sense of community in their fitness journey. 

Powerful Arm Cortex processor

The ‘AutoHR’ feature also measures the wearer’s heart rate at set intervals, providing the user with a comprehensive overview of their most effective fitness activities each day. The Nordic SoC’s 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex® M4 processor with floating point unit (FPU) provides ample computational power to manage the complex algorithms that convert sensor data inputs into meaningful fitness and sleep feedback to the user. Sedentary reminders can also be set to ensure the user remains on-track with their fitness goals. 

The Reflex 3.0 incorporates a 90 mAh Li-Poly battery, allowing for between seven to 10 days of typical operation between charges, thanks in part to the ultra-low power characteristics of the Nordic SoC. The nRF52832 has been engineered to minimize power consumption with features such as the 2.4GHz radio’s 5.5mA peak RX/TX currents and a fully-automatic power management system that reduces power consumption by up to 80 percent compared with Nordic’s nRF51 Series SoCs.

Nordic’s nRF52832 SoC utilizes the Arm Cortex M4 processor alongside a 2.4GHz multiprotocol radio (supporting Bluetooth 5, ANT, and proprietary 2.4GHz RF protocol software) featuring -96dB RX sensitivity, with 512kB Flash memory and 64kB RAM. The SoC is supplied with Nordic’s S132 SoftDevice, a Bluetooth 5-certifed RF software protocol stack for building advanced Bluetooth LE applications. This software architecture includes a clear separation between the RF protocol software and the application code, simplifying development and ensuring that the SoftDevice is not corrupted. The S132 SoftDevice features Central, Peripheral, Broadcaster and Observer Bluetooth LE roles, supports up to twenty connections, and enables concurrent role operation.

“The nRF52832 was the obvious choice for our product because of its ease of development, the reliable stack, and the seamless connectivity,” says Jayadevan Janardanan, Head Products and R&D, Titan Company. “The low power consumption and cost effectiveness were also very important to us.”