Cambridge Consultants this week launched a new platform for
enabling wireless connectivity from a medical device to online health services,
compliant to the Continua Health Alliance standard. It was demonstrated 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 4.5 mm, 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,” says 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 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,” says 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.”
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.
