Medical Device Link.

Originally Published EMDM May/June 2004

Industry News

Integrated circuits developed by austriamicrosystems will allow a wristwatch-like device to receive and process wirelessly transmitted heart-rate signals.

And the beat goes on for austriamicrosystems (Schloss Premstätten, Austria). The maker of mixed-signal integrated circuits has announced a development deal with Polar Electro, a manufacturer of heart-rate monitors based in Finland. Austriamicrosystems will design and supply ultra-low-power application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for a new line of wearable heart-rate monitors (HRMs).

Integrated into a wristwatch, the chips receive and process a coded heart-rate signal that is wirelessly transmitted from the wearer’s chest belt. The product is one of the latest entries into the burgeoning consumer HRM market.

Austriamicrosystems has been serving the healthcare product industry for more than 10 years, but demand has surged in recent times. “In the last three years, [the medical OEM market] has become one of our core businesses,” notes Matjaz Novak, marketing director, industry and medical business unit. “We now have marketing and engineering teams dedicated to the medical market.”

The healthcare sector is, in fact, a bright spot for the semiconductor industry as a whole. The medical semiconductor market segment is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 13% between 2003 and 2006, according to IMS Research, which monitors the global electronics industry. Austriamicrosystems is well positioned to grab a large share of that business, according to Novak.

“Our value to customers is twofold. We are able to provide optimized ASIC solutions for low-power, high-volume, battery-operated applications,” says Novak. “And we have proven project management expertise. The high quality and long-term supply requirements, typically 10 years, that exist within our industrial and automotive divisions are assets that we can offer our clients in the medical device sector as well.”

The company operates worldwide and has a full-service silicon foundry specialized in mixed-signal, radio-frequency, and high-voltage technologies. The firm is currently working on a number of medical projects involving products such as glucose meters, electronic inhalers, and imaging systems.

For more information, contact austriamicrosystems, A-8141 Schloss Premstätten, Austria; phone: +43 3136 5000; fax: +43 3136 52501; Internet: www.austriamicrosystems.com. 

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