Cambridge Consultants announced a new platform for enabling wireless connectivity from a medical device to online health services, compliant to the Continua Health Alliance standard. It will be available for demonstration at the Continua Summer Summit & Plugfest 2010 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 16-18 2010.
The new, low-cost platform is a combination of Qualcomm Incorporated's Wearable Mobile Device cellular module and Cambridge Consultants' Vena software stack. The platform enables the collection of data from Continua Certified devices over the Continua Personal Area Network (PAN) interface, and transmits this data over the Continua Wide Area Network (WAN) interface to online health services. The Wearable Mobile Device module has dimensions of 21 x 22 x 4.5mm, enabling a Continua Application Hosting Device (AHD) to be built that provides a PAN-to-WAN bridge within a small highly portable footprint.
"Remote health data collection is an important part of future health services," commented Nick Vassilakis, business development consultant, Cambridge Consultants. "Our Vena software stack has been built to use emerging industry standards and enable the rapid development of compact and low-cost wireless health devices. By combining the Vena stack with Qualcomm's cellular modules, we can demonstrate how next generation health care services have the potential to evolve by using cellular networks."
Cambridge Consultants' Vena wireless healthcare software stack, which implements the standards selected by the Continua Health Alliance, empowers patients to manage health and wellness anytime, anywhere. It embeds the Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP) optimized for the secure transport of medical data and the IEEE 11073 standards for compatible exchange of information between health devices.
The Qualcomm Wearable Mobile Device 1X, 1X EV-DO and UMTS modules are industry-leading products that support a variety of 3G networks and provide integrated GPS, an accelerometer and Bluetooth technologies. With data and voice support, a standardized USB 2.0 interface and defined APIs and development kit, the modules provide unprecedented functionality and streamlined 3G connectivity for M2M and CE devices.
"Mobile technology will be at the core of future health care services," said Don Jones, Vice President of Life Sciences at Qualcomm. "The Wearable Mobile Device cellular module provides a powerful and compact platform for the development of new health care services and devices. Our collaboration with Cambridge Consultants illustrates some of the exciting possibilities in this market."
The publication of the Continua Health Alliance Version One Design Guidelines in 2009 paved the way for Continua members to develop compliant connected health products and services. The Continua Design Guidelines specify how to use existing standards to build interoperable personal health care solutions. The group's version 1.5 Design Guidelines adds the definition of the WAN interface and also includes two further wireless technology standards for low power radios to enable new devices, additional use cases and extend the capabilities of the Continua Health Alliance ecosystem.
"The Continua Health Alliance Design guidelines ensure interoperability with a wide range of health and fitness devices," said Chuck Parker, Executive Director of Continua Health Alliance. "Cambridge Consultant's demonstration of this new wireless device platform shows the powerful potential that technology provides for tackling a growing range of health problems."