France-based WB Technologies, a consumer products startup has released MAPO Solaire’, a Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) wirelessly connected device that measures the user’s exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light. The product is enabled by Nordic’s nRF51822 System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity between the device and Bluetooth 4.0 (and later) smartphones and tablets.
The device is housed in a fabric pouch that can be attached to the user’s bag or clothing when they are outdoors and exposed to UV light. MAPO Solaire’s UV sensor continuously measures UV exposure, and using Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity provided by the nRF51822 SoC, syncs captured data to the accompanying MAPO Solaire app on the user’s iOS smartphone or tablet. The app determines the user’s maximum daily recommended UV exposure via a series of questions based on the Fitzpatrick scale, a method of estimating the response of different skin types to UV light.
The user can also indicate activities or any application of sunscreen that will modulate the absorbed UV dose, and then either via the device directly, or from the app, the user will be alerted when they are approaching their maximum recommended daily UV exposure. The app also allows the user to follow the evolution in real time of their UV intake, UV indexes, and UV protection used. A record of historical UV exposure is also available. The MAPO Solaire employs a 100 mAh rechargeable battery that in regular use can provide a week of UV exposure monitoring between recharge, thanks in part to the ultra-low power consumption of the Nordic SoC.
Nordic’s nRF51822 is a powerful and flexible multiprotocol SoC ideally suited for Bluetooth LE and 2.4GHz ultra low-power wireless applications. It is built around a 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 CPU, 2.4 GHz multiprotocol radio, and 256kB/128kB Flash and 32kB/16kB RAM. The SoC is supplied with Nordic’s S130 SoftDevice, a Bluetooth 4.2 qualified concurrent multi-link protocol stack solution supporting simultaneous Central/Peripheral/Broadcaster/Observer role connections.
