Silicon Labs has introduced an optical heart rate sensing solution designed to reduce the cost and complexity of wrist-based heart rate monitoring (HRM) applications. The new Si1144 HRM solution includes a low-power optical sensor module paired with an energy-friendly EFM32™ Gecko microcontroller (MCU) running Silicon Labs' advanced HRM algorithm. The small-footprint Si1144 sensor module integrates an optical sensor, green light-emitting diode (LED), LED drivers supporting up to two external LEDs, analog-to-digital converter (ADC), control logic and an I2C digital interface.

According to Silicon Labs' market estimates, 100 million units of HRM-enabled devices will be sold per year by 2018, with the majority of those units being wrist-based wearables. Silicon Labs' Si1144 HRM solution addresses this large and growing market across a wide range of wearables including activity-tracking fitness bands, pedometers and smart watches, in addition to providing HRM capabilities for gym fitness equipment, bathroom scales and geriatric monitoring devices. Samples and production quantities of the Si1144-AAGX HRM module are available today.

The Si1144 module along with Silicon Labs' HRM algorithm is priced at $2.82 (USD) in 10,000-unit quantities. The HRM44-GGG-PS development board, priced at $57.60 (USD MSRP), enables developers to jumpstart evaluation and development of wrist-based HRM applications.