Demand for wearable devices is growing rapidly, driven by the benefits promised by their ability to readily collect, analyse and display health and environmental information. Annual revenues from the wearable sector are expected to ramp up considerably over the next decade, hitting the $70 billion mark by 2025, if IDTechEx forecasts prove correct.
Much of that growth will be driven by demand for devices that hit the sweet spot between cost, form and function. And this sweet spot is predicted to be the next big battleground for the wearables market – an area dominated by the need for fashionable colour displays and voice recognition yet bound by the need for long battery life and wireless charging.
Devices need to integrate sensors and be able to connect with peripherals and external sensors that measure body parameters such as temperature, pressure or pulse rates.
As device complexity increases, battery life tends to decrease. In order to extend battery life, low-power architectures need to be implemented. Toshiba has developed the ApP LiteTM family of application processors that makes extensive use of power islands that enable unused parts of the device to be powered down when not in use.
