We support R&D teams building wearable devices in medical, rehab and training, and professional audio with hardware and embedded software designed for certification, long lifecycles, and manufacturing scale.
In wearables, small form factors force trade-offs among electronics, firmware, manufacturing, and comfort. Decisions made early can later show up as unreliable data, unstable device behaviour, difficult production scaling, or poor user experience.
Motion, pressure, optical-HR, electrochemical, and other biometric measurements must remain accurate under real operating conditions. Calibrated analog front-ends, reliable signal processing, sensor validation, and risk-aware design are critical because inaccurate readings can affect diagnostics, athlete safety, and health-related decisions.
Small, battery-powered devices leave little room for inefficient firmware, unstable BLE connectivity, or poor power management. Sensor processing, battery behaviour, thermal limits, and on-body comfort must be balanced with certification (CE, FCC, MFI) and manufacturing constraints.
Battery selection affects device size, runtime, thermal behaviour, charging strategy, certification timing, and manufacturing readiness. For wearable and portable devices, UN 38.3 and IEC 62133 requirements need to be considered alongside user comfort, product enclosure, and long-term field reliability.
Electronics built for lab conditions fail in the field. Wearables, infant trackers and sports devices need IP67 ingress, sweat & alcohol-wipe resistance, drop tolerance, ESD protection, biocompatible skin contact and firmware designed for intermittent sensor inputs.
Compact wearable devices often combine sensitive analog signals, wireless connectivity, memory, and real-time processing in the same constrained form factor. Biometric sensing, motion tracking, and professional audio capture all depend on signal integrity, low-noise analog design, synchronization, and firmware architecture that preserves data quality under real-use conditions.
After launch, all wearables (health, audio, and sports devices) still need to support performance improvements, security patches, and feature updates. Firmware architecture must enable safe OTA updates, rollback, version control, and update validation so devices remain reliable across years of field operation.
Selected examples of specific work delivered across medical wearables, rehab and training devices, and professional wearable audio.
Gen 1: Compact battery-powered BFR wearable with BLE, integrated sensing, and electromechanical control (valve, pump, pressure sensor).
ARS advised on development strategy under tight budget constraints, created a cost-optimized hardware variant using an existing platform, redesigned the pressure control concept using pulse-based lookup tables to address component variability, supported CE/FCC certification, and delivered production readiness in 5 months, 3× faster than full-cycle development.
Gen 2: Next-generation device with encrypted BLE, OTA control, live sensor data streaming, real-time OLED interface, and PID pressure regulation, certified as a Class 1 medical device and deployed with professional sports teams (NBA, NHL) and in clinical environments.
ARS developed secure BLE with OTA, implemented real-time sensor fusion and signal filtering, and delivered full manufacturing transfer including automated test fixtures.
Connected diagnostic device for saliva sample analysis, designed for COVID-19 detection and adaptable to other applications such as pregnancy, infections, and broader diagnostic testing. The device combines lateral flow testing with electrochemical signal measurement and analysis, achieving 10% better precision than existing lateral flow tests and delivering results in 20–40 minutes via BLE-connected mobile phone and cloud storage.
ARS designed the complete electronics around a BLE Cortex-M4 SoC, analog front-end, USB-C interface, flash memory, and Li-Po battery charger. The work included implementing firmware based on Zephyr RTOS, implementing signal processing algorithms, EMC pre-compliance validation, and a scalable architecture for future diagnostic applications.
Low-power infant sleep tracking wearable combining body temperature measurement, BLE connectivity, and algorithm-based LED indications for optimal sleep-time detection. The device is built around an nRF52832 Cortex-M4 microcontroller with integrated BLE radio and an on-board precision temperature sensor for continuous temperature monitoring and logging.
ARS developed encrypted BLE communication with bonded peers, standard BLE services for RTC time updates, latest body temperature, and battery level, plus a custom BLE service for retrieving stored temperature measurements from EEPROM through the mobile application. OTA update support enables firmware improvements, field updates, and long-term maintenance after deployment.
Production-ready NFC wireless charging solution for a smart sports ball with integrated motion tracking, deployed in thousands of units. The system required reliable wireless power transfer with a fixed receiver antenna, predefined transmitter antenna options, a minimum 8 mm air gap, and real-world misalignment, without hardware changes on the receiver side.
ARS performed VNA-based antenna characterization, impedance matching network tuning, antenna configuration simulation, and prototype testing with 24 / 30 / 35 / 40 mm coils. The final solution achieved stable charging at 11–13 mm air gap, exceeding the original 8 mm target, and included a reusable Zephyr-based driver for the Renesas PTX130W charger IC with devicetree and Kconfig support.
Gen 1: Compact wearable audio recorder with electronics integrated on a 31.36 mm × 38.71 mm PCB, supporting 24-bit / 48 kHz stereo, 24-bit / 96 kHz mono recording, 8 GB eMMC memory, up to 3.5 hours of recording time, BLE app control, Bluetooth Classic audio streaming, high-speed USB, and Li-Po charging.
ARS developed the complete hardware and firmware architecture, rigid-flex PCB, audio algorithms, BLE/Bluetooth Classic communication, app support, validation, certification support, and manufacturing documentation.
Gen 2: Next-generation compact wearable audio recorder supporting 24-bit / 48 kHz stereo, 24-bit / 96 kHz mono, and 32-bit float mono recording, 16 GB eMMC memory, and up to 4.5 hours of recording time. Includes real-time audio capture, buffering and streaming, external timecode support through Tentacle Sync, and integration with third-party devices such as GoPro, Insta360, and Atomos.
ARS developed the full hardware and firmware architecture, including mixed-signal hardware, low-power firmware, audio processing, multiple recording modes, app support, wireless communication, manufacturing test tools, automated test software, certification support, and transfer to series production.
Reusable motion tracking platform combining 10-axis sensor data with on-device machine learning for gesture and activity recognition. Designed for applications in action sports, gym and fitness, rehabilitation, and workforce motion monitoring.
ARS developed the PCB with Qi wireless charging receiver, ported Zephyr RTOS, adapted the mechanical enclosure, and implemented ML algorithms for edge inference. The EMC-LVD compliant platform now serves as a foundation for multiple products, from professional training devices to industrial motion monitoring.
Deep experience with wearable-grade sensors, medical certification, and clinical-quality signal processing.
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