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- Enter the module: Russia has imported ECG chips for wearable electronics
Enter the module: Russia has imported ECG chips for wearable electronics
Scientists from St. Petersburg have developed the most compact heart rate measurement module in Russia, designed for smart watches, bracelets and pendants. According to experts, there are no domestic analogues of such chips, and their production will be an important step towards technological independence in the field of electronic components. Until now, our developers of wearable devices have been forced to use imported modules, mainly Chinese and American-made, which increased the cost of products and created additional risks. However, experts point out that import substitution of one of the components alone will not eliminate the lag in the industry. Whether the new development will be able to compete with the world market leaders and whether Russia has a chance to conquer this niche is in the Izvestia article.
The country's smallest ECG chips
Scientists at the Scientific Research Design and Technology Institute of Biotechnical Systems (Biotechnical Institute) of St. Petersburg State Technical University LETI have created a domestic OEM module, that is, an embedded chip, for wearable devices capable of recording heart activity. The development surpasses existing domestic analogues in compactness with commensurate accuracy.
The module is a miniature chip with electronic components located on it. It can be integrated into a wearable device — smart watches, bracelets, or pendants - that measures the electrocardiogram (ECG) every day online.
— Due to its compactness and low power consumption, our module can be integrated into wearable devices and monitor the user's heart cycle parameters in real time. In addition, we focused on making such modules as cheap as possible while maintaining the accuracy of data collection at the level of the world's leading analogues," Dmitry Egorov, Deputy director of the Biotechnical Institute of St. Petersburg State Technical University LETI, told Izvestia.
According to the developers, the technology is essential for achieving technological sovereignty in healthcare and the development of one of the promising areas of medicine of the future, based on continuous monitoring of key physiological parameters of the body. According to the scientists, the introduction of such solutions into broad clinical practice will require the development of predictive models based on artificial intelligence, as well as the creation of a line of domestic compact devices. At the same time, they must combine high measurement accuracy, affordable cost and comfort in everyday use. It is for such wearable gadgets that a new chip has been developed.
To date, it has successfully passed a number of internal laboratory tests. The authors of the project have applied for a patent.
— This development is just one module from our own line of components for wearable devices that NIKTI BTS is developing for the medicine of the future. We plan that such OEM modules will be used in the mass production of domestic smart watches and bracelets and other wearable electronics in order to regularly monitor users' ECG readings for human health management through predictive models," said Dmitry Shevchenko, Director of the Biotechnical Institute of St. Petersburg State Technical University LETI.
According to the institute, the development is not limited to the creation of portable ECG devices. The module can be embedded in the steering wheel of a car to measure the parameters of the driver's heart. In case of any problems, automation could detect dangerous situations and activate emergency braking. Another example is the identification of an individual by individual EX-indicators, similar to fingerprints.
Market development prospects
The very idea of a miniature OEM module for ECG registration in wearable devices is in demand in medicine, Professor Alexey Nikitin, cardiologist at Invitro, told Izvestia. According to him, in daily practice, doctors regularly encounter paroxysmal rhythm disturbances, primarily atrial fibrillation, which are extremely difficult to detect on a standard ECG or even daily Holter monitoring.
— The device that the patient wears all the time is theoretically capable of detecting an episode of arrhythmia precisely at the moment of its occurrence, which has real clinical value. But whether the module will turn into a useful medical tool will be shown by data on technical characteristics, the results of clinical validation and registration," the medic noted.
This project is the right step towards component independence, but from an engineering point of view, it still has to go through several key stages, Anna Kotlova, head of SafeTech, told Izvestia. According to her, it is necessary to confirm the declared technical characteristics, provide a domestic component base and establish mass production.
— Russian developers of wearable electronics have been working for many years either on purchased Chinese or American modules, or assembling circuits from scratch for a specific task. It's expensive, time-consuming, and non-scalable. But it should be understood that there is a gap between a laboratory prototype and an industrial batch of 10-50 thousand pieces," the expert noted.
In fact, there is no mass production of consumer smart watches or fitness bracelets in Russia that could be equipped with this chip, said Sofia Goldberg, organizer of the Digital Medicine club at the Helsnet Research Center of the NTI.
— The development of a mass segment of health monitoring devices, including gadgets with an ECG function, is hindered not so much by the lack of its own hardware base as by other factors: the complexity of developing algorithms, regulatory barriers and high competition from foreign brands, including in the budget segment. Therefore, import substitution of one component is unlikely to be able to radically change the market situation," she believes.
According to Alexey Nikitin, the development closes an important niche in the field of local production of electronic components. However, as a ready—made solution for medical diagnostics, it is still inferior to Apple and Samsung products, primarily in terms of clinical validation, as well as algorithms for processing and interpreting large amounts of medical data.
The OEM module was developed as part of the implementation of the Priority 2030 development program of St. Petersburg State Technical University "LETI".
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