California-based Biostrap has launched a wearable that provides researchers with clinical-grade data to analyse a patient’s nervous system.

The Kairos wearable device, accompanied by the Vital Science app, provides data visualisation of the autonomic nervous system, offering quantification of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches from a wrist-worn device.

Such measurements previously were only available to researchers while using uncomfortable electrocardiogram chest straps.

Biostrap has achieved a milestone by delivering a comprehensive stress resilience measurement that allows users to understand the extent to which they are in fight-or-flight or rest-and-digest mode during periods of rest, throughout the day and in real time.

“We are thrilled to launch Kairos and our new spot check feature,” said Sameer Sontakey, Biostrap CEO. “Our dedicated team has worked tirelessly to create this cutting-edge culmination of hardware and software that positions Biostrap as the leader in quantifying clinical-grade heart rate variability (HRV) parameters and providing researchers and health-tech visionaries invaluable insights into their patients’ and clients’ autonomic nervous system like never before.”

Kairos was developed from the ground up incorporating years of customer feedback. It is a wrist-worn device but has a modular design allowing it to be also positioned on the forearm or bicep.

Using a high-sensitivity cmos optical sensor to capture raw photoplethysmography (PPG) data, Kairos computes biometrics such as active and resting heart rate, HRV, beat-to-beat intervals, respiratory rate, and sleep-related parameters.

“Our highly sensitive cmos pixel provides high-quality raw PPG signal with excellent signal-to-noise ratio, and that is where PixArt can help Biostrap stand out in the accuracy of biometrics for the enterprise and B2B market,” said Charles Chong, director of strategic marketing at Taiwanese firm PixArt Imaging.

Additionally, using technology from Texas firm Ambiq, Kairos can offer a four times improvement in battery life and ten times improvement in syncing speeds compared with previous Biostrap devices.

“Ambiq’s leadership in low-power microcontrollers utilising spot technology allows Biostrap’s first-of-its-kind configurable biometric monitoring platform to have extended battery life, while continuously monitoring health sensors,” said Mike Kenyon, vice president at Ambiq. “The combination of our technologies will allow medical professionals to extend professional care beyond facility walls.”

Biostrap’s differentiator in the industry is its commitment to delivering clinically reliable nervous system analysis through detailed and transparent biometric measurements, such as the spot check feature. By offering a real-time visualisation of the underlying PPG signal on which these biometrics are derived, signal quality and R-R intervals, Biostrap provides untethered access to every data point captured via the Vital Science app, a remote-monitoring dashboard, APIs or SDKs.

It is the platform’s configurability and data integrity that attracted the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) in the UK to choose Biostrap in their efforts to improve the health and safety of police officers.

“The differentiator with Biostrap is the company’s willingness to adapt how it presents data and information to users based on their experiences and our priority issue, which is sleep, fatigue and recovery,” said Andy Rhodes, director at NPWS. “We wanted an end-to-end solution which is tuned into the reality of emergency responder work, and Biostrap has listened to frontline officers to achieve that. The accuracy of Biostrap means we can rely on the key data points and present them to officers with a high degree of confidence. It’s why we are confident that our sleep, fatigue and recovery programme has been developed by policing for policing.”

Kairos underwent testing by heart rate variability researchers before its official launch. Data scientist and HRV expert Marco Altini compared Kairos with an ECG chest strap heart rate monitor to assess accuracy levels.

In his blog, he said: “I was very happy with the data quality of this sensor. This is yet another demonstration that PPG can be used to estimate HRV and that pulse rate variability, when measured at rest in healthy individuals, provides all we need.”

The launch of Kairos and the Vital Science app marks Biostrap’s official pivot to exit the consumer wearable market and step into offering configurable hardware and software made for enterprise and research purposes.