Medical-grade ECG can be available for all consumer wearable devices thanks to a development kit produced by Irish firm B-Secur.

The hardware and software development kit can help technology companies fast-track the development of their ECG devices.

Heart health ECG monitoring technology company, B-Secur works closely with many consumer and medical device companies, who have access to its engineers on customised products.

B-Secur’s expertise has led these companies to develop a full stack to accelerate ECG development. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the market demand for ECG monitoring has increased explosively.

The development kit will provide easy access to development integration of B-Secur’s FDA-cleared Heartkey technology for smaller consumer wearable device makers.

ECG development can be complex and time-consuming, requiring specific capability that if done in-house costs a large amount of time and money. B-Secur is a specialist in the end-to-end signal chain and this kit, which features a suite of tools and guides, can help fast-track device makers’ ECG development in a cost- and time-effective manner.

The kit includes an electrode guide, electrode development test jig, hardware design guide, HeartKey software library of algorithms in user ID, wellness and health, software guide and HeartKey signal analysis app. In addition to a dedicated training workshop, users of the kit can also access 24-hour expert support.

The launch of the kit comes at an important time for cardiovascular disease, which is the number one cause of death globally with an estimated 17.9 million people dying from the disease each year, representing 32% of all global deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.

Last year, the Covid-19 pandemic led to additional health complications for those with underlying heart conditions. The virus has also caused irreparable cardiac damage and arrhythmias in people with no underlying heart issues, making heart health and remote monitoring a key priority for patients, clinicians and health service providers around the world. Developed and optimised for everyday devices, HeartKey provides flexibility in integration, enabling ECG everywhere.

“The inspiration around ECG and HeartKey is being able to take biometrics to the next level, enabling rapid development of trusted biosensing technology in consumer and medical devices,” said Ben Carter, CCO at B-Secur. “The ECG development kit enables real scalability and global acceleration of medical grade ECG across consumer and medical devices and is particularly suited to small but ambitious device makers keen to leverage and build this technology with a self-build approach.”