Regular swimming can improve health and fitness. Furthermore, adopting affordable technology can help monitor and improve swimming performance against targets. Instabeat's latest product, equipped with ST chips, is a perfect example of how technology can play a role in enhancing health and fitness, particularly helping athletes achieve peak performance.

Swimming is a sport where real-time tracking is particularly difficult. This is because monitors must be waterproof and not interfere with the athlete's effort and concentration. Instabeat solves this problem by attaching a small module to the athlete's goggles, tracking, storing, and displaying factors such as heart rate, swimming speed, number of laps, total distance, and estimated calories burned. Since the Instabeat module's optical sensor measures heart rate from blood flow in the temples, there is no need for chest-tightening strap-type heart rate monitors. The module syncs wirelessly with an online dashboard, which is used to set goals or review performance from outside the water.

ST provided the technology at the core of this innovative product. Motion detection capabilities were implemented using the 9-axis iNEMO inertial module (LSM9DS0), and wireless connectivity was realized using the BlueNRG Bluetooth® Low-Energy network processor. Power management was supported by the STNS01 lithium-ion linear battery charging chip, and overall system processing was handled by the low-power 32-bit microcontroller STM32L1. The TSV633 micro-power CMOS OP-amp is also included in this ST component kit.

"ST's IoT portfolio, encompassing sensors, processors, power management, and wireless connectivity, helps unleash the creativity of customers around the world who are envisioning innovation," said Philip Lolies, Vice President of Marketing and Applications for EMEA. "ST is contributing to improving human health, fitness, and quality of life with customers like Instabeat."

“Until recently, it was impossible to pack such excellent performance into a small module with such small size and weight constraints,” said Hind Hobeika, founder and CEO of Instabit. “ST’s ability to supply and support so much key semiconductor technology played a crucial role in launching the product we wanted and helping train next-generation champion candidates.”