Renesas Electronics has expanded its portfolio of healthcare solutions with the introduction of a new blood pressure monitoring evaluation kit.

The kit includes hardware and software elements required to jump start blood pressure measurement design

It also features pressure sensor, arm cuff, pump, electronically controlled valve, LCD panel and reference board that integrates an RL78 microcontroller (MCU)-based ASSP (application specific standard product) with analog functions required for blood pressure measurement.

The kit also includes reference software that offers algorithms required for blood pressure measurement, and graphical user interface (GUI) development tools.

Renesas’ kit will help to reduce development pain points by providing functions close to those used in actual blood pressure monitors, helping to accelerate blood pressure measurement system development.

The kit also includes Bluetooth low energy (BLE) module, which allows to transmit measured data to the smartphone under Continua standard blood pressure monitoring (BPM) profile.

The GUI tool helps to set the pressure sensor, pump, electronically controlled valve components, and pulse width modulation control.

Part of the new ASSP of the RL78 Family of MCU, the RL78/H1D has been developed to control systems required for blood pressure measurement with a single chip.

It integrates analog functions such as high-resolution delta sigma A/D converters, programmable gain instrumentation amplifiers, D/A converters, operational amplifiers, as well as other circuits needed for blood pressure measurement and timers for pulse-width modulation (PWM) control.

The RL78/H1D also offers 10-bit sequential comparison A/D converters that operate asynchronously, in addition to the delta sigma 24-bit A/D converters.

Renesas provides advanced semiconductor solutions, including microcontrollers, analog, power and SoC products and integrated platforms.

The firm’s solutions can be used in a range of automotive, industrial, home electronics, office automation and information communication technology applications.

Image: Renesas blood pressure monitoring evaluation process. Photo: courtesy of Business Wire.