Propeller Health - Medical

Propeller Health is an organization dedicated to improving the management of asthma for patients and healthcare professionals. Prior to the development of the Inhalation Sensor, there was a lack of available data to properly detect where and when asthma symptoms were triggered. The Propeller Health Inhalation Sensor detects when a patient has activated their inhaler. The time and date of this activation is communicated via Bluetooth to the patient’s mobile phone. The data from this phone is in turn sent to a database, which can be used to analyze the causes of asthma. Propeller Health chose LSR to develop this new and innovative product to improve data collection.

The Technical Challenge

The small compact device was required to operate on a single coin cell battery, while having sufficient processing power to implement the data management application and run the Bluetooth PAN profile. As a result, an ARM Cortex M3 processor running a Real Time Operating System was employed.

LSR completed the software, hardware, antenna, CAD design and certification for the product. Bluetooth communication was implemented using the Stonestreet One Bluetopia™ Bluetooth stack and the Texas Instruments CC2560A radio.

The Solution

The final design for the Inhalation Sensor was a circuit board with a 1 1/2" inch diameter. The device obtains in excess of 30 days of battery life with a rechargeable coin cell battery. Typical indoor communication range is greater than 80 feet. The device is capable of communicating with the iPhone, as well as Android and feature phones. The product is currently being deployed, and information is being collected to further the knowledge of the triggers for asthma.

As medical device lifecycles continue to shrink, new feature requirements are expanding at a dizzying rate — introducing complex new technologies into the validation and certification process.

The team at LSR understands the unique compliance and safety considerations of the medical device industry.

With over three decades of experience in wireless product development, LSR has developed a variety of unique solutions for the medical device community. These products include patient tracking systems, health measurement devices, and portable diagnostic equipment.

LSR offers:

• Experience leveraging wireless in a medical setting, including evaluating IT network constraints and bandwidth concerns
• Human body modeling and custom antenna design
• Extensive experience designing patient-worn and implantable wireless devices
• Development of MICS, Wi-Fi, ANT, BLE and other standards-based wireless products
• Custom protocol development to meet your application’s unique needs