Continua Health Alliance Chooses Bluetooth as Health Device Standard
July 9, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
Continua Health Alliance, a coalition of health care and technology companies charged with establishing a system of interoperable personal telehealth solutions, selected Bluetooth wireless technology (IEEE 802.15) for its health device guidelines.
Once finalized, Continua will include the upcoming Bluetooth wireless technology specification in version two of its Continua Health Alliance Design Guidelines. The selection of Bluetooth technology extends the current Continua standard for the Bluetooth Health Device Profile, according to Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG).
Bluetooth technology is a wireless technology that offers connectivity between mobile devices and small battery-powered devices such as watches, emergency pendants and health and fitness sensors.
Chosen over several other wireless technologies after a 10-month review process, Bluetooth technology was selected to enable low power mobile devices such as activity monitors and heart rate sensors to be used to monitor a user's health and fitness levels, according to Bluetooth SIG.
The radio selection process was conducted by members of the Continua Low Power Radio Sub-Team, the Continua Technical Working Group and the Continua Board of Directors. All teams were aided by experts from the technology and health care industries-at-large, as well as guided by research conducted by an independent third-party analysis firm.
A process was employed over the course of 10 months to select from many technologies, noted Bluetooth SIG. After consideration of required power levels, cell phone ubiquity, required range and anticipated market penetration, Bluetooth technology was chosen to satisfy the required use cases.
Source: Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG).