AntennaWare and Silicon Labs address wireless wearables bottleneck

▤ Summary

Body blocking occurs when there is no direct line of sight communication between a wearable device and the remote receiving data collector. The wearer’s body blocks the signal path causing reduced communication ranges, reduced performance in open spaces, poor performance in noisy RF environments, and dropout caused by user movement. However, this comes at a significant cost and ultimately doesn’t solve the fundamental problem of body blocking and unreliable wireless coverage. Side-by-side testing of the AntennaWare/Silicon Labs reference design, which integrates the BodyWave Bluetooth antenna and the Silicon Labs Thunderboard BG22, demonstrates an additional 16dB link margin, resulting in maximized performance, dependability, longer communication ranges, or lower power levels, without the need for additional access points. Dr Gareth Conway, AntennaWare Co-founder comments, “By joining forces with a partner with the reach and reputation of Silicon Labs, we will be able to offer the market a robust solution to a very real problem for many wireless manufacturers – one that has held back adoption of wireless technologies in many areas up to now.” “One of the stickiest trends from the COVID-19 pandemic has been the adoption of wearable devices by consumers to gain greater insights into their own health,” said Anders Pettersson, Director of Mass Market, Silicon Labs.

▦ Linked Companies

Silicon Laboratories Inc. (Silicon Labs)

$500M to $1B