Freescale 'Home Health Hub' solution targets telehealth applications

The platform is based on Freescale's i.MX28 applications processor and ZigBee and sub 1GHz transceivers. According to the embedded semiconductors, it enables secure WiFi and Ethernet connectivity to remote devices with displays, such as tablets, smartphones or pcs with medical specific remote user interface options. The platform is designed to provide wired and wireless connectivity to end healthcare devices, such as blood pressure monitors, blood glucometers, weight scales, pulse oximeters and more via ZigBee. "The changing dynamics of the aging global population are creating an increased demand for new technologies and tools that can offer peace of mind to the family members of seniors living at home," said Steven Dean, manager of Freescale's Global Healthcare team. "There's also a need to provide access to healthcare in remote and growing regions of the world to improve the quality of life for millions of people. Our new home health hub reference platform is designed to simplify development of connected medical devices and help our customers more easily address these growing needs." The HHH reference platform software adheres to Continua device profiles to provide consistency and compatibility with other Continua certified medical devices such as blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters and weight scales. The platform also enables connection to the Microsoft HealthVault, a privacy and security enhanced online data repository that lets users organise, store and share health information. It consists of an aggregator/gateway board based on the low power i.MX28 applications processor (built on the ARM9 processor) running various connectivity interfaces to healthcare end devices and wireless or wired connectivity for a remote user interface. Also included is a panic alarm sensor based on Freescale's MC12311 sub-1 GHz radio, providing personal emergency response system functionality. To complete the reference platform, software such as board support packages (Linux and Windows Embedded Compact 7) and example code are included.