Artec Design is a leader in custom product development services, specializing in hardware design, embedded Linux and firmware development, FPGA design, industrial design, and production. With over 25 years of experience, Artec Design has built a reputation as a long-term innovation and product development partner. The company serves a wide range of sectors, including industrial, connectivity and security, non-invasive medical & healthcare, mobility, and space & defense. Trusted by over 150 clients across more than 15 countries, Artec Design has exported over 90% of its services and products to North America, Europe, and Asia.
Design Journey and Tackling the Obstacles
The design process can be particularly challenging for companies like Artec Design, as it requires navigating complex technical requirements and ensuring the integration of the most suitable components. Having a reliable design partner who provides the essential components and support is crucial to successfully meet the design requirements for their customers’ product.
One of Artec Design’s recent projects involved developing a smart mouthguard. When an athlete or a soldier sustains a concussion, the most critical step is to immediately remove them from action to allow for proper recovery. However, many head injuries go undetected, and the reasons why some impacts cause concussions while others do not remain largely unknown.
To address this, innovative connected devices must be developed that revolutionize how we understand and respond to head impacts immediately after they happen without guessing. By providing instant alerts when a person sustains a head impact above a specified threshold, it can help protect the long-term health of athletes and military personnel. The importance of smart mouthguard technology and how it holds immense potential for advancing player safety and performance analysis in rugby and beyond has been shared in the World Rugby's press release.
During the design of the smart mouthguard for Prevent Biometrics, Artec Design faced a significant challenge: developing compact, lightweight electronics with an exceptionally low thermal footprint, suitable for use inside athletes' mouths to monitor impacts. Additionally, the design needed to ensure high wireless charging power ratings with low heat dissipation to maintain efficiency and performance.
Another key challenge was ensuring the mouthguard's flexible share, designed to adapt to different jaw morphologies for comfort. This flexibility resulted in varying positions of the mouthguard within the charging box, requiring the wireless charging system to accommodate a larger range of distances between the charger antenna and the mouthguard antenna than usual.
Why Renesas?
Renesas components were chosen for their superior cost efficiency and simplified integration: fewer components, less configuration, minimal calibration, firmware on-chip. These attributes simplified integration and accelerated development timelines. For the smart mouthguard electronics design, Renesas components provided the ideal combination of a compact form factor and low thermal footprint, essential for the project's design constraints.
The Solution
Renesas components formed the core of Prevent Biometrics mouthguards' charging and power circuitry. On the Poller (charger board) side, a Renesas MCU controlled the system, and the PTX130W handled NFC charge negotiation and control. On the listener (mouth guard) side, the PTX30W served as the sole PMIC, supplying the system with power, not just charging.
Resolving the Issues
During the application design process, Artec Design faced challenges with antenna design and tuning. Renesas provided invaluable technical support, helping optimize the design efficiently to ensure the best performance. Renesas's comprehensive documentation and detailed reference designs made the product design process smooth and intuitive, minimizing the need for additional support. Their well-crafted demos and quick-start guides accelerated embedded software development, enabling the team to get up and running quickly and focus on refining the application.
And a Successful Outcome
The project experience was smooth and efficient, thanks to Renesas's well-documented application notes and comprehensive reference designs. The availability of CAD components and embedded software demos significantly accelerated development. The successful implementation of Renesas components in the smart mouthguard electronics design project is a testament to the hard work and innovation of the Artec Design team.
Sander Suursalu, CTO of Artec Design, on the smart mouthguard electronics design project for Prevent Biometrics: “Seeing the device perform flawlessly in various large-scale global stadia is a testament to the hard work and innovation of our team and the benefits of Renesas components”.