According to media reports, Apple is preparing to equip its next generation of TWS headphones with a health sensor that can measure heart rate.
People familiar with the matter said that Apple will be released next year in the AirPods Pro 3 with this health sensor, the next generation Powerbeats Pro is also expected to get the same upgrade. According to Apple's upgrade cycle, there is a gap of nearly 3 years between the first two generations of AirPods Pro, and AirPods Pro 3 May be released next fall.
Health sensors that measure heart rate play a crucial role in today's medical, fitness and exercise monitoring fields. These sensors can accurately monitor and record individual heart rate data in a non-invasive way, providing an important basis for users' health management and exercise guidance. Here's a detailed look at the health sensors that measure heart rate and how they work:
Common types and working principles
Photoelectric heart rate sensor
How it works: Photoelectric heart rate sensors use a light source (usually a light-emitting diode LED) and a photosensitive element (such as a photodiode or photoresistor) on the heart rate sensor to monitor and record heart rate in real time. The light emitted by the light source penetrates the skin, some of the light is absorbed by the skin, and some of the light is reflected back to the sensor. The beating of the heart changes the volume of blood in the skin, which affects the amount of light absorbed. The photosensor receives the reflected light and converts it into electrical signals, and by analyzing the changes in these signals, the beating cycle of the heart can be determined and the heart rate calculated.
Advantages: Easy to operate, high accuracy, strong reliability.
Application scenario: Widely used in wearable devices such as smart wristbands and smart watches for daily health monitoring and exercise tracking.
Electrophysiological sensor (ECG sensor)
How it works: Electrophysiological sensors use the body's bioelectrical activity to measure heart rate. The heart generates a small electrical current with each heartbeat, and electrophysiological sensors make contact with the body through electrodes on the surface of the skin to detect and record the heart's electrical signals. These electrical signals reflect the electrical activity of the heart during each beat cycle and can be used to analyze the functional state of the heart and heart rate.
Advantages: High accuracy, able to provide detailed analysis of cardiac electrical signals.
Application scenario: It is usually used in medical institutions and operated by medical professionals for clinical diagnosis and monitoring of heart diseases.
Second, other types of sensors
In addition to the two main types mentioned above, there are several other types of sensors for heart rate measurement, such as piezoresistive sensors and capacitive sensors.
Piezoresistive sensors: Heart rate is detected mainly by pressure changes on the skin surface. The advantages are low price and easy to wear, but the accuracy of the hand ring or the close fit of the watch has certain requirements, and high intensity movement may affect the measurement data.
Capacitive sensors: Detect heart rate by measuring changes in capacitance on the surface of the body during heartbeat. The advantages are high precision, suitable for various colors of skin, little external interference, but expensive.
This paper is from Ulink Media, Shenzhen, China, the organizer of IOTE EXPO (IoT Expo in China)
