Atmel’s SAM4L can power this smart glucose meter

Diabetes is characterized by high blood sugar due to insufficient production of insulin by the pancreas – or because cells do not properly respond to the insulin that is produced.

Specifically, Type 1 diabetes is attributed to the body’s failure to produce insulin and requires an individual to either inject insulin or wear a pump which automatically drips an appropriate amount of the peptide hormone into the bloodstream.

For those who choose to inject themselves with insulin, a smart glucose meter is obviously critical. Indeed, this portable medical device is tasked with measuring, displaying and recording the concentration of glucose in the blood. Clearly, the battery-powered monitor demands dependable silicon under the hood to ensure extended battery life along with a high level of accuracy to prevent reading or operator errors.

Atmel’s SAM4L microcontroller (MCU) fits the bill with its ultra low power consumption, versatile integration capabilities and multiple connectivity options. Related components include the AT86RF231/232/233 RF Transceiver, ATZigBit RF Module and ATSHA204 Authentication IC with EEPROM.

“Atmel’s SAM4L offers low power operation to extend battery life, with our PicoPower Technology achieving dynamic mode down to 90uA/MHz and static backup mode with RTC down to 0.7uA with fast wakeup (<1.5ms),” an Atmel engineer explained.

“Meanwhile, the Event System and SleepWalking features frees the CPU up from peripheral operations, resulting in lower system power consumption, as our embedded Segment LCD Controller updates/refreshes displays with minimal CPU and power impact.”

The SAM4L is also integrated with full-speed USB (host & device) and transceiver (removing external crystal and PHY), up to 160 segment LCD controller, high precision analog and an internal temperature sensor. On the software side, Atmel offers free software libraries of production-ready source code for USB, ZigBee and Proprietary Low Footprint 802.15.4 Mesh.

Additional information about Atmel’s versatile SAM4L is available here.