Electronics are the essence of wearable technology. But the electronic components used must meet some very special challenges.
According to business analysts and industry experts, the market potential for wearable technology is enormous. That is why more and more companies from a wide variety of sectors are entering the market. Software and hardware vendors are developing innovative products for wide-ranging applications. Electronics are key to those developments; they are the essence of all the wearable mini-devices. After all, without increasingly miniaturised, fast, powerful and highly flexible components, “wearables” would not in fact be wearable. The market for electronic components used in this segment is growing rapidly in line with that demand. According to a study by Research and Markets, its annual growth rate is over 37 per cent.
Challenging market
The electronic components involved actually have to meet a number of contradictory requirements: ever-increasing demand for powerful modules is a challenge to the need to minimise energy consumption. Moreover, aesthetic design aspects often conflict with the space requirement to integrate all the components. Ultimately, components developed specially for these applications are still a rarity. And those are just some of the challenges of this market. Miniaturisation of electronic components along with flexibility are key to the wearables market. That is why electronics manufacturers are experimenting with components which can be woven into fabrics, moulded into plastic or printed with special ink.
Special chips for wearables
In line with the growing demand for components for small, wearable devices, manufacturers are increasingly making chips tailored to the special needs of the market. They combine a wide range of functions. They include microcontrollers capable of processing the inputs from lots of different sensors; they feature their own acceleration sensors to measure movement; they store wide-ranging information in Flash modules; and they support wireless communications with Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi controllers. Additional crypto-modules enable secure transmission of personal data. Combining all that in a single chip reduces the overall size, minimises the number of components in wearable devices and simplifies their design.
Power and data without cables
Another key challenge in the development of electronic components is the protection of the components from water, dirt and dust. Openings in the housing for data or power cables are a disadvantage in that respect. While wireless data transfer technology has been around for a long time, more and more devices featuring wireless power transmission are now also coming onto the market. This means there is no more need for replaceable battery compartments, or openings in the housing for charger cables.
(Picture credits: Fotolia: kentoh, vege; Shutterstock)