Tag: fitness tracker

Wearable technology sleep sensors may not be as accurate as you think

| January 6, 2016

A new study has revealed that many gadgets overestimate the number of hours wearers are sleeping.

As 2016 gets off to a new start and people begin their resolutions, many are using wearable technology to help them to try to get in shape, improve their fitness, lose weight, or achieve better overall health.

As a part of that, many users of wearables have been tracking their sleeping habits through their gadgets.

That said, a new study has now suggested that the promises made by wearable technology to help you to measure the length of a night’s sleep may not be accurate at all. The research showed that devices, which primarily included Fitbit and Jawbone gadgets, were overestimating the number of hours of sleep people were actually receiving. This study was conducted as a review of 22 other published studies that used these device for this purpose.

Many of the articles found the wearable technology could accurately complete their measuring functions.

Wearable Technology - SleepSleep wasn’t the only issue that was pointed out in this research. Both the Fitbit and Jawbone devices were shown in many of the articles to be able to complete the counting tasks in a lab as well as in the field. However, there was only a single study that had actually looked into the capability for Fitbit to measure distance. What it found was that Fitbit was programmed to overestimate a slower speed and would underestimate a faster speed. This could cause the results to be skewed.

The accelerometry was a central component for measuring the wearer’s physical activity. The study indicated a strong link between slower and faster motion and inaccurate results. Moreover, when conducting an assessment of several comparative analyses of the wearable tech devices, the researchers determined that the wearables from both brands were underestimating calorie levels while they were overestimating the number of hours a user was sleeping.

The outcome of the new study was, therefore, that while these devices are relatively precise when it came to functioning as a pedometer that would count steps, they may not be nearly as accurate in their ability to calculate the number of calories that are burned or the number of hours of sleep an individual may be receiving.

Bio Processor chip from Samsung leaves current tracking limits behind

| January 4, 2016

This could help to change the expectations that consumers can have from wearable technology.

Among the most popular uses for wearable technology at the moment is health tracking but despite the fact that it currently has its limitations, Samsung is hoping to change those restrictions using its new Bio Processor chip technology.

The current generation of wearables is limited to tracking functions such as heart rate, breathing, steps, and similar.

That said, with technology such as the Bio Processor chip, the plan is the bring the next generation of wearables up to an entirely new level of options for users. This will include a range of new options for health monitoring so that users can keep track of their vital signs in real-time. This will be possible only with new and improved sensors, such as those under development by Samsung, among others.

The Bio Processor chip is meant to have a range of additional benefits over what is currently available.

According to a recent announcement from Samsung, this chip will be able to collect a notably broader spectrum of health sensor data through improved built-in memory, power management, a digital signal processor and its micro-controller. What is considered to be exceptionally appealing about this new technology is that it can use the sensors to measure the data that is collected without having to rely on any other types of processors. This chip provides everything it needs to be self sufficient to that degree.

So far, this tiny little processor has been compared to heart rate monitoring chips that have been previously released. However, Samsung has differentiated itself by integrating sensors to measure additional functions as well. For instance, it is integrated with sensors that will measure skeletal muscle mass, body fat levels, heart rhythm, heart rate, skin temperature and even the individual’s skin temperatures.

Samsung’s Bio Processor chip is already in mass production and it is anticipated that this technology will start to be incorporated into devices as early as the first half of 2016. It will be interesting to see how rival companies respond to this new and advanced range of wearable technology tracking options.