In the rapidly advancing world of health and wellness, the integration of cellular connectivity has brought forth new possibilities.
Sequans, a leading provider of 4G and 5G chipsets and modules, plays a vital role in creating medical and wellness products for companies like Withings. In this blog post, we will explore how Sequans’ products combined with the antenna connectivity expertise from Ignion contribute to the future of health and wellness by enabling seamless connectivity and enhanced user experiences.
Health and wellness IoT market sizing and projections
Sequans is uniquely positioned as the sole provider offering a complete range of 4G and 5G chipsets and modules optimized for non-smartphone applications. Their portfolio is divided into two main categories: massive IoT and broadband and critical IoT. For the purpose of this discussion, we will focus on massive IoT, which encompasses health and wellness devices.
By 2025, it is projected that there will be approximately 200 million units of IoT devices with single-mode LTE Cat 1 or Cat 1bis connectivity. Among these, around 8 million units will be medical equipment. Additionally, it is estimated that 100 million IoT devices with LTE-M connectivity will exist, with over 5 million units being medical equipment.
Sequans: Enabling cellular for the health & wellness industry
Sequans addresses the growing market for connected medical equipment by utilizing their Calliope and Monarch platform families. These platforms are specifically designed to support respectively LTE Cat 1 and LTE Cat M connectivity. With their second-generation platforms, Sequans offers optimized integration, secure connections, integrated SIM capabilities, and low power consumption. These features ensure ease of use, data security, and extended device lifetimes.
Collaboration and Support: Sequans collaborates with industry partners like Ignion to overcome RF challenges and facilitate the integration of cellular connectivity. Ignion provides Virtual Antenna® solutions, ensuring seamless connectivity without compromising device design or performance. In addition to technical support, Sequans offers a range of services to their customers, including schematic and layout review, RF and field qualification, certification, and assistance during the production phase. This comprehensive support structure enables a smooth transition from prototype to mass production.
Building the future of cellular IoT in health and wellness
Sequans’ connectivity solutions, Monarch and Calliope, play a pivotal role in shaping the future of health and wellness. By adding cellular connectivity to medical equipment, these solutions enable seamless integration into our daily lives. Complex pairing procedures are eliminated, and users enjoy an “always on” availability regardless of their location. The integration of Sequans’ solutions brings optimized real estate, secure connections, flexible connectivity management, low power consumption, and longevity benefits. Patients’ data remains secure, and devices can operate for extended periods, ensuring a reliable and sustainable solution.
The Withings BPM PRO is a result of a successful collaboration between Sequans, Ignion, and Withings. Withings, established in 2008, has been a leader in designing and manufacturing health devices for home use, including smart scales, watches, blood pressure monitors, and sleep sensors. These clinically validated devices are connected to an app that provides users with in-depth health information and personalized programs.
Withings focuses on user experience and engagement, understanding the importance of daily and long-term health monitoring. Their devices are designed to be beautiful and easy to use, with a high retention rate of 94% for scales and blood pressure monitors after 12 months.
Beyond the consumer market
Expanding beyond the consumer market, Withings aims to address the needs of patients who require blood pressure monitoring as part of their health programs. These individuals may not be equipped with smartphones or have technical expertise, so seamless onboarding and data synchronization are crucial. Withings takes responsibility for delivering the data to healthcare providers and bridging the gap between providers and patients.
The BPM PRO range, which includes the BPM Connect and BPM Connect Pro, offers simple and efficient user experiences. The BPM Connect features Wi-Fi and BLE connections, while the BPM Connect Pro adds cellular connectivity to cater to patient use cases. Although they appear the same externally, the differences lie in the internal components.
The collaboration between Ignion, Sequans, and Withings was instrumental in the development of the BPM Connect Pro (read all about it in our case study). The teams of engineers worked closely to adapt the compact design of the BPM Connect and incorporate the necessary cellular modules, SIM cards, and antennas. Sequans provided expertise in module firmware adaptation, ensuring optimal performance and secure connectivity.
Ignion contributed the right antenna technology and fine-tuning to meet the product’s requirements and the challenges of a very small form factor and proximity to the human body. Using Ignion’s unique Antenna Intelligence Cloud™ and carefully orchestrated design journey the teams were able to retune and make adjustments every step of the way shortening the design process from idea to finished product to just 12 months. Get more in-detail information about this successful health and wellness IoT case study here.
Final thoughts
Sequans’ commitment to advancing cellular IoT solutions for health and wellness devices has paved the way for a future where connectivity seamlessly integrates into our daily lives. With a comprehensive range of chipsets and modules, optimized platforms, and collaborative partnerships with key partners like Ignion which brings its expertise to accelerate customer design with the right performance level, Sequans is driving innovation in the industry. As technology continues to evolve, we can expect further advancements that will revolutionize the way we monitor and improve our health and well-being.
