Wearables & Health Devices
Wearable and health-monitoring products demand extremely low power, compact form factors, and seamless wireless connectivity to smartphones and cloud services. SaberTek BLE, Wi-Fi, and data converter IP enables high-integration SoCs that meet stringent battery life and performance targets for next-generation wearables.
Wearable Design Constraints
Devices such as fitness bands, smart watches, and medical sensors must operate for days or weeks on very small batteries while continuously acquiring and transmitting physiological data. The RF front-end, baseband, and converters must therefore be highly efficient in both active and standby modes.
Industrial design also drives strict PCB area limits, antenna placement challenges, and sensitivity to self-interference from displays, haptics, and power subsystems. Achieving robust, multi-standard connectivity within these constraints requires carefully engineered RF IP.
Key Requirements
- Ultra-low current consumption in all operating modes.
- BLE and Wi-Fi coexistence with minimal interference.
- Highly integrated data converters for sensor front-ends.
- Support for secure over-the-air firmware updates.
- Small silicon area and minimal external components.
SaberTek IP Advantages
SaberTek offers Wi-Fi 6 + BLE transceiver IP combined with scalable ADC and DAC IP suitable for biosignal acquisition and RF paths. Our architectures emphasize low-leakage biasing, aggressive power gating, and fast state transitions so that wearables can remain responsive without compromising battery life.
Integrated calibration and test features simplify high-volume manufacturing, while flexible interfaces allow connection to a wide range of sensor front-ends and microcontroller cores.
Recommended IP Blocks
- SBR7525 – Wi-Fi 802.11ax + BLE transceiver for smart watches and health devices needing high-throughput sync and firmware updates.
- SBR7570 – Wi-Fi 802.11ax + BLE + sub-GHz transceiver for multi-band wearable platforms and companion devices.
- SBR0162ADC – 10-bit dual-channel I/Q SAR ADC for RF or high-speed sensor acquisition.
- SBR0128 / SBR0109 – Higher-resolution, moderate-speed ADCs for biosignal chains such as ECG, PPG, or impedance measurement.
Example Wearable Architectures
In a typical wrist-worn device, a single RF transceiver supports both BLE and Wi-Fi modes. BLE handles low-duty-cycle notifications and background synchronization, while Wi-Fi is used for high-bandwidth transfers such as firmware updates or buffered sensor data upload when a known access point is available.
Sensor front-ends feed low-power ADCs, which interface to a digital signal processor or MCU. SaberTek ADC IP can be configured to operate in duty-cycled modes, further extending battery life for continuous monitoring applications.
Representative Device Types
- Fitness and activity trackers.
- Smart watches and sports watches.
- Medical patch sensors and patient monitors.
- Body-worn industrial safety devices.