Low power MCU at the heart of wellness wearable
It has been revealed that Oura Health's new Oura smart ring utilises Cypress Semiconductor' PSoC 6 BLE microcontroller (MCU), which is supposedly the industry's lowest power, most flexible dual-core MCU with built-in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless connectivity. Cypress' secure PSoC 6 MCU architecture enables Oura users to track their sleep, recovery and daily activities for up to seven days with a single charge.
Leveraging its ultra-low power 40nm process, low-power design techniques and a dual-core Arm Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M0+ architecture, the PSoC 6 MCU enables the new Oura ring to achieve more than three times the battery life and ten times the processing capacity of its predecessor, along with a 50% smaller form factor.
The PSoC 6 MCU's BLE connectivity allows users' data to seamlessly sync with the Oura app and Oura Cloud and supports Over the Air (OTA) firmware updates. The Oura ring can also store data offline for up to six weeks with PSoC 6 MCU's integrated flash memory.
"Our goal is to help users improve their sleep and overall health, and find their optimal daily rhythms through circadian alignment. This presented ambitious design challenges for our next-gen ring," said Petteri Lahtela, CEO and Co-founder at Oura Health. "The new Oura ring required long-lasting battery life, increased processing capacity, and the use of advanced sensors, all in a stylish and comfortable form factor. Choosing Cypress as our partner helped us meet these requirements and redefine what is possible for wearable health products."
"We defined the PSoC 6 MCU architecture to help Internet of Things designers deliver market-defining capabilities," said John Weil, Vice President of the MCU Business Unit at Cypress. "The Oura ring exemplifies our vision of innovation. We are thrilled to be working with an award-winning company such as Oura Health to help them turn their ideas into products."