Why Bermondsey?
Data collection capabilities within health and fitness devices are likely to keep growing. Collecting and analysing data enables us to optimise performance, deliver incremental gains and significant cost savings. Developing sports focused devices with ever more powerful data collection capabilities can improve fitness levels and potentially diagnose major health conditions early, massively lowering overall health care costs. Devices as small as Samsung smart rings will soon be equipped ECG capable heart trackers. Apple watches can now deliver early detection of serious health conditions like sleep apnea. Wearable devices rely on embedded IoT connected body worn sensors. These devices harness embedded Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or 5G capabilities to connect users to a dashboard to monitor and drive their health metrics. Health apps use this data to prompt users to make marginal gains in their health performance, like drinking more water, or exercising regularly.
Bermondsey Electronics have significant experience in embedded IoT, Bluetooth connectivity and a wealth of device interoperability expertise within the health and fitness industry. The projects we’ve delivered have enabled us to make all these technologies to work together harmoniously in real time. This complexity underscores the need for our rigorous embedded Software Testing processes. Our advanced testing machinery simulates a multitude of device environments, making it look users are performing a huge range of different activities. The in depth tests we run test difficult edge cases, where equipment or devices are likely to let you down. Some examples could be a failing battery or a radio with a poor signal. Our time tested verification methods and in depth fitness industry knowledge cover a multitude of eventualities before you launch your product. Our thorough approach to embedded software verification saves you time to market, avoids product development delays and reduces product recalls or aftersales repairs.
The water rower worked well with desktop PCs via Bluetooth, but its performance with mobile phones was uncertain. This was especially true of those with limited flexibility for accommodating changes to the connection interface (CI). With limited access to various physical phone models, planning for a worst-case communication scenario became essential. Embedding Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) modules into products grants control over connection parameters, including the connection interval (CI), which determines the bandwidth during data transfer sessions. Designing products to pair with mobile phones via BLE places the responsibility on the designer to adapt to the phone’s communication protocol, yet the specifics of how each phone manufacturer implements BLE remain unknown.
Thanks to being able to control the Connection Interval (CI) we simulated the BLE communications with any mobile phone or tablet. The team knew how much data needed to be transferred so, even if a phone would only allow an upper CI limit (to preserve battery life) the software in the accessory could be optimised accordingly. Moreover, it could be shown to work – essential for product launch – even without access to the phone.
Don’t take our word for it, these are kind words from our customers
Fitness devices record huge data sets on large embedded memories
Customers using fitness devices store lots of data on devices that offloads it regularly. That means verifying the data storage is correct and keeping it all in good order during the offloading process. The device is in the field and expensive to access. It takes a long time to fill the memory and empty it. We had to write the file system.
We developed a data testing and processing system
We wrote a file system on the desktop. We used test driven development to fill it with data quickly. We used real customer data and wrote it to a big file on a disk. We tested reading data back out of the file, wear levelling, and secure erasure, without leaving our desks. Integration testing on the customer device was reduced to verifying the memory accesses.
Presenting muscle injury data in a usable format
Our customer wanted to filter muscle injury data collected from the body. We wrote filters to present the data inside the fitness app. This offloads the processing from the insecure domain (an app, easily reverse engineered) to the secure domain (the customer product, protected by ARM secure boot technology). Presenting the data in a usable format required a lot of maths to a tight deadline.
Muscle injury data
We leveraged Zephyr OS to bring up the platform quickly. We had Bluetooth running in under two weeks. We used our in house testing and development tools to measure performance. Zephyr offers both secure boot and secure OTA update. We leveraged both. We added a module to take advantage of ARM’s optimised assembly routines for the maths. We delivered a verified prototype in under 6 weeks.
Delivering secure data transfer for a medical treatment device
This customer required communication with their device in the field to validate their business model. There was a competing requirement to have as small a cybersecurity attack surface as possible, due to stringent new security requirements. The interface was challenging.
Medical Treatment Device
We implemented QR code scanning end to end to facilitate the business model. This made the attack surface as small as possible and prevents malicious reprogramming in the field. We used secure cryptography to ensure the data remains secure in transit. We can verify algorithm performance on the desktop and in challenging lighting conditions. We optimised the code to keep scan times low and accuracy high. Our efforts enabled the device to communicate its data securely.
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Bermondsey Electronics Ltd. is registered in
England and Wales. Registered number: 10524932
VAT Number: 259290869 Registered ofice: Unit
B.505, The Biscuit Factory, 100 Drummond Road,
London SE16 4DG, United Kingdom
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