Cypress’s Bluetooth Module Sews Up Wearables Win with Hexoskin Smart Shirt

Hexoskin has selected the Bluetooth Smart-based EZ-BLE PRoC module from Cypress Semiconductor Corp for use in its Hexoskin Smart biometric-tracking shirts.

Hexoskin Smart shirts are designed for athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and health researchers, with moisture-wicking fabric, and several lab-validated sensors that track cardiac, respiratory, and activity data. The Cypress module collects this data and pushes it to the user’s smart device where it can be analyzed and tracked over time via the free Hexoskin app, or a variety of other popular fitness apps. The module’s programmability enabled Hexoskin to make the shirt compatible with popular fitness apps such as Strava, Runkeeper and Runtastic, and it is compatible with other fitness devices and smartwatches. The low power consumption of the module provides the Hexoskin Smart with more than double the battery life of Hexoskin’s first generation product.

“The Hexoskin Smart shirt lets users who are bothered by uncomfortable fitness bands and chest straps to comfortably measure their heart rate, breathing rate, and sleep activity,” said Jean-François Roy, CTO and co-founder at Hexoskin. “Cypress’s certified BLE module allowed us to bring our product to market faster with its drag-and-drop software configuration, and it enabled us to offer many rich features and extend battery life up to 30 hours between charges.”

“In a crowded market of fitness trackers and mHealth devices, Hexoskin has developed a truly innovative approach to health management,” said Dave Solda, Director of the Module Business Unit at Cypress. “Cypress’s BLE solutions give wearables device makers the confidence and flexibility they need to bring differentiated products to market ahead of the competition.”

Cypress’s EZ-BLE PRoC module integrates the programmability and ARM® Cortex®-M0 core of PRoC BLE, two crystals, an on-board chip antenna, metal shield and passive components, all in a very small 10-mm x 10-mm x 1.8-mm form factor. Customers designing with the module can apply to add the Bluetooth logo on their products by referring to Cypress’s Qualification Design Identification (QDID) 67366, a unique serial number assigned by the Bluetooth SIG. Additionally, the module is compliant to wireless regulatory standards in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea and Europe. The module saves customers approximately $200,000 in development, testing and certification costs.

Application details for Cypress’s BLE Component are embedded in PSoC Creator with examples of all supported Bluetooth Low Energy profiles and hundreds of example projects for mixed-signal system designs. The $49 BLE Pioneer Development Kit gives users easy access to the Cypress Bluetooth Low Energy devices, while maintaining the design footprint from the popular PSoC 4 Pioneer kit. The development kit includes a USB Bluetooth Low Energy dongle that pairs with the CySmart master emulation tool, converting a designer’s Windows® PC into a Bluetooth Low Energy debug environment. The EZ-BLE PRoC module can be quickly and easily evaluated with the EZ-BLE PRoC Module Evaluation Board, which plugs into the BLE Pioneer Development Kit. An introductory video on the module is available on the product webpage.