Stryd will help you run faster, better and smarter

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Just clip ’n go! Stryd is the world’s first wearable power meter for runners. 

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There are all sorts of wearables on the market today designed to help those exercising track their fitness goals. While a vast majority of these devices are focused around metrics like pace and heart rate, a new startup has sought out to revolutionize the running industry through power.

Created by Princeton engineers (and already supported by some of the biggest names in endurance sports), the aptly-named Stryd provides fitness enthusiasts a new and innovative way to accurately measure run intensity across any type of terrain using the sports watches and mobile devices they already use. This is made possible through its embedded Bluetooth Smart and ANT+ wireless technologies.

The wearable analyzes a run by tracking the environmental conditions and calculating a real-time power in watts through a proprietary sensing technology. As its creators note, long the standard for cycling training, power has been a sought-after run metric for years, yet measuring it hasn’t been possible until now.

“The data runners use in training hasn’t changed much in 30 years. There has never been an accurate or easy way to show training intensity and efficiency, and athletes and coaches have repeatedly told us that holds them back.” said Robert Dick, Ph.D. and Stryd CEO. “Our goal was to provide one number that can consistently help anyone run better, and today Stryd does exactly that.”

How it works is relatively straightforward. To use Stryd, users simply clip the small device onto a pair of sneakers or shorts and begin their regimen. The device then automatically syncs up with pretty much any gadget, computer and coaching software available today, and its battery lasts longer than a year. Starting from the first run, Stryd helps wearers learn their capabilities and establish baseline data to help better understand performance and enhance efficiency.

“Stryd answers run-by-run, day-by-day questions that runners care about,” explains co-founder and coach Gus Pernetz. “Did I pace myself right? Am I overtraining? How is my running form? Until now it has been a lot of guesswork, but Stryd gives runners a better way to measure training intensity. And, with better measurement comes better performance.”

Now live on Kickstarter, the team ran well past its initial goal of $50,000 in a matter of hours. If all goes to plan, Stryd is targeting a mid-summer ship date for the product’s first release, giving priority to running and triathlon coaches followed by athletes who support the crowdfunding campaign.

Exploring the Internet of Things and wearable tech market

Earlier this year, my wife and I drove to Southern California in search of information on the wearable computing market. After stops in Irvine, San Diego, and some play time in La Jolla we returned in time for the CASPA Symposium: “The Wearable Future: Moving Beyond the Hype; the Search for the Holy Grail and Practical Use Cases.” CASPA is the Chinese American Semiconductor Professionals Association and their Spring Symposium was at the Intel HQ Auditorium in Santa Clara with a standing room only crowd.

The big attraction for me was the keynote speaker Dr. Reza Kazerounian, SVP & GM, Microcontroller Business Unit of Atmel. I originally ran across his name during my research for “A Brief History of STmicroelectronics” (the piece I did last week) as he was CEO of ST Americas from 2000 to 2009. It was truly an honor to hear Dr. Reza Kazerounian speak.

“The Internet of Things (IoT) is opening up fresh horizons for a new generation of intelligent systems that leverage contextual computing and sensing platforms, creating new markets. One of these platforms is the wearable category of devices, where the combination of sensors using low-power sensor fusion platforms, and short-range wireless connectivity, are giving rise to a variety of exciting end markets. From self-quantification to a variety of location-based applications, to remote health monitoring, wearables are becoming the harbinger for a whole host of services. With the right set of biometric sensors combined with local fast data analytics, wearables have the potential to revolutionize the health care industry. These devices can provide real-time data and contextual information along with all the health care requirements, improving the quality of care, and lowering the overall cost of care. This discussion will review the underlying technologies needed to make the “always-on health care revolution” happen, and explore how the future of medicine is being shaped by wearable devices.”

Contextual computing is the key term here and, yes, I had to look it up. The application I’m most interested in, besides fitness, is security. I want my smartphone to know it is me holding it by my movements, voice, and usage. I remember back when my credit card kept getting security flagged when I started traveling internationally. Once Visa profiled my usage it never happened again. As the smartphone takes over our financial lives, security will be even more critical, absolutely.

There are three key components to wearable market silicon: Low power, low cost, and low area. Billions of these devices will be deployed over the next 10 years so the market will by far exceed smartphones. The wearable market will be very fragmented which opens up opportunities for entrepreneurs around the world. In fact, Dr. Kazerounian predicted that 15% of those devices will come from companies that are less than 3 years old to which I agree wholeheartedly.

One of the big challenges is low power connectivity. For now these devices will be talking to our smartphones and that means ultra-low power connectivity. Coincidentally, Atmel recently announced a new SmartConnect family that combines Atmel’s ultra-low power MCUs with its wireless solutions and complementary software into a single package:

“Ultra-low power wireless connectivity is critical for embedded applications in the era of the Internet of Things,” said Reza Kazerounian, Sr. Vice President and General Manager, Microcontroller Business Unit, Atmel Corporation. “Atmel’s SmartConnect technology is about simplifying the use of embedded wireless connectivity technologies and enabling users to accelerate their time-to-market. This simplicity allows all players to participate in the IoT market, fueling the innovation needed to accelerate adoption.”

Celebrating their 30th year, Atmel is an IoT market leader with an interesting history that you can read about it here. 

This post has been republished with permission from SemiWiki.com, where Daniel Nenni is a featured blogger. It first appeared there on Marcn 9, 2014.

13 million wearable IoT devices for corporate wellness

Increasing healthcare costs, coupled with a growing push to extend healthcare services into proactive health management, are rapidly driving wearable wireless devices into corporate wellness programs.

According to analysts at ABI Research, more than 13 million wearable devices with embedded wireless connectivity will be integrated into wellness plans offered by businesses over the next five years.

“Corporate wellness is increasingly being targeted by a mix of specialist and consumer focused device vendors and competition will also extend to software applications on mobile devices,” explained Jonathan Collins, author of a new study on the subject.

“[However], device adoption will not just be about device characteristics. Success will come to the vendors that can meet a range of requirements demanded in the corporate wellness market as well as applying their resources to maximize the value of their sales strategies.”

As previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel is smack in the middle of the rapidly evolving wearable tech revolution. First off, Atmel’s SAM4S and tinyAVR MCUs are inside the Agent smart-watch which recently hit Kickstarter, while the Amulyte pendant is powered by Atmel’s SAM4L, the very same MCU used to regulate smart (wearable) glucose meters. Meanwhile, Atmel’s versatile SAMA5D3 eMPU lineup is more than capable of powering fitness and outdoor portable electronic equipment for measuring performance (or providing navigation) of various outdoor activities, including running, cycling, hiking and golf.

Atmel MCUs have also tipped up in a number of Maker projects for wearable tech, as our microcontrollers power Adafruit’s Flora, Gemma and Trinket platforms.

And why not? Simply put, Atmel offers a wide range of wearable computing platforms designed for ultra-low power consumption – both in active and standby modes. Indeed, Atmel’s EventSystem with SleepWalking allows peripherals to automatically connect with each other even in ultra low power modes, thereby simplifying sensor interfacing and further optimizing power consumption. Meanwhile, “Wakeup” times are minimized, facilitating the use of low-power modes without missing communications data or sensor events.

In addition, Atmel devices integrate numerous features to save circuit board space, such as USB transceivers and embedded termination resistors. Many devices are offered in very small form factor packages, a critical characteristic for engineers and Makers designing wearable tech.

On the software side, the Atmel Software Framework (ASF) includes communications libraries to support external Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios, mesh and point-to-point networking on Atmel’s 802.15.4/Zigbee AT86RF radios as well as a full range of USB drivers. The ASF also contains libraries and driver functions for many popular third-party sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers.

In addition, stand-alone Atmel controllers support off-the-shelf capacitive buttons, sliders and wheel (BSW) implementations. Plus, all our microcontrollers can directly manage capacitive buttons via provided software libraries, while the maXTouch series of capacitive touchscreen controllers are capable of managing optically clear touch sensors overlaid on LCD displays.

And last but certainly not least, Atmel’s touch platforms may be tuned to function when moisture is present – which is often a key requirement for wearable applications. Interested in learning more? Check out Atmel’s white paper on wearable tech here.