Plessey to launch ECG monitor at Electronica

Plessey will launch a hand-held, ECG monitor at this year's Electronica Show. Aimed at the home health market, the imPulse will allow routine, quick and accurate recording of ECG signas,l outside of the medical environment and without the need for conductive gel or skin preparation. The compact, hand-held device detects an ECG signal when the user's two thumbs are placed on the two sensor pads using two Plessey PS25201 sensors to recover the ECG signals. It measures the left and right signals and transmits the data via a Bluetooth link to a Smartphone or Tablet, where custom software can then display the ECG trace, and perform some simple analysis of heart rate. Using the latest generation of the EPIC sensor, which typically uses only 1.5mA during the short (15 seconds) period needed for ECG sensing, the imPulse has a very long battery life of several months, before the needing to recharge. Barry Dennington, Plessey's COO, said, "We have commercialised this innovative, multi-awarding, sensor technology from lab prototype to volume production of ICs in just over a year. There is an incredible range of applications for which customers are designing products for -- from monitoring vital signs to gesture recognition. However, we are constantly being asked for products based on EPIC so we have designed our own, that we now have available." By 2013, Plessey plans to launch a range of MAGIC (MAnufactured on GaN Integrated Circuit) smart lighting components and products.