Edge AI-powered smart ring captures and analyzes vital signs data, keeps family and clinicians notified using Nordic Semiconductor’s ultra-low power wireless MCU

Sensio Enterprises’ Orbyt smart ring employs nRF52840 SoC to supervise medical-grade sensors, provide smartphone connectivity, and extend battery life

Wearable health technology ODM, Sensio Enterprises based in Bangalore,India, has released a multifunctional smart ring that provides vital signs wellness monitoring through the capture and analysis of eight key health metrics. The ‘Orbyt’ smart ring is powered by Nordic Semiconductor’s multiprotocol nRF52840 SoC, and employs medical-grade sensors to provide 24/7 monitoring of vital signs including heart rate, blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, activity and sleep quality.

AI at the edge

According to the company, Orbyt is the first smart ring designed and manufactured in India to provide ECG (electrocardiogram) and PPG (photoplethysmography) measurement along with temperature and activity, and runs on-the-edge AI algorithms using the Nordic SoC for advanced AI-powered heart health tracking.

As an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer), Sensio has developed the smart ring both for health conscious consumers as well as organizations and businesses looking to integrate or expand their wearable health technology . This includes health and wellness enterprises, research institutions, universities, hospitals, and established corporate entities.

“Sensio’s founders strongly believe the future of health monitoring lies in multiple wearables on a body area network (WBAN) providing coordinated, highly personalized and actionable insights in real time,” says Mohan Prabhakar, co-founder and Director, Sensio Enterprises. “For the Orbyt smart ring, two things set it apart from competitive solutions. First, the ECG sensor and the ability to capture ECG data on command synchronously with other sensors, and second, our proprietary ‘In Loop’ feature which allows users to share their health information with family members remotely, and to send automated alerts when intervention is required. This also lets users share their health data with clinicians for accurate and effective remote patient monitoring .”

We realized performance, scalability, reliability—both in terms of manufacturing and field performance—are as critical as size and power consumption, and that is why we decided to use Nordic’s nRF52840

Mohan Prabhakar, co-founder and Director, Sensio Enterprises

Ultra-low power wireless connectivity

The Nordic SoC’s powerful 64 MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex® M4 processor with floating point unit (FPU), plus 1 MB NVM memory and 256 KB RAM, supervise the sensors and record the data, while its 2.4 GHz multiprotocol radio provides Bluetooth® LE wireless connectivity to the wearer’s smartphone with a partner app. Depending on ring size and usage, the Orbyt smart ring can also last between three and six days on a single charge, thanks in part to the ultra-low power wireless connectivity of the Nordic SoC. The nRF52840 SoC has been engineered to minimize power consumption with a fully automatic, on-chip, adaptive power management system.

“When we started looking for an SoC for the Orbyt smart ring, size and power consumption were the two primary determinants,” continues Prabhakar. “As we went through the journey of building the product, we realized performance, scalability, reliability—both in terms of manufacturing and field performance—are as critical as size and power consumption, and that is why we decided to use Nordic’s nRF52840.

“The nRF52840 SoC also gave us an edge in terms of reducing the complexity of the PCB layout, as well as component count. In terms of firmware there were far fewer bugs, and any issues we encountered were quickly resolved with the help of the Nordic team and DevZone community.”