Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Philips Applied Technologies continues the roll-out of its Ultra Low Power Technology into a host of new application areas following its winning of the 2006 Medical Design Excellence Award (MDEA) as supplier to the winning product – Cochlear Implants' Nucleus Freedom hearing system. The company supplies the ultra-low power speech processor for the Cochlear system, and plans to redeploy its new technology into medical markets and mainstream consumer electronics markets. It also plans to further exploit the technology by offering design services to interested customers inside and outside Philips.

 

Philips Applied Technologies' Digital Systems Laboratory, Leuven, Belgium has more than 10 years' experience in ultra-low power developments. This was built up initially through its close collaboration with Philips Hearing Instruments. Since Philips divested itself of that activity, the Digital Systems Laboratory has continued R&D into ultra-low-power DSP systems for wearable and portable audio equipment and for personal health-care and monitoring. It also conducts contract development for leading hearing implant manufacturer Cochlear Implants, development which led in April this year to it receiving the MDEA.

 

Holistic approach

"The laboratory has developed its competence in ultra-low power through adopting what can only be described as a holistic approach," says Johan Van Ginderdeuren, Business Development Manager of Philips Applied Technologies, Leuven. "By concentrating on influencing all steps in a development process and all levels in the design hierarchy, we’re able to make major breakthroughs that in some instances can lead to orders-of-magnitude savings in the power consumption of a system."

 

Drawing on its experience, the Digital Systems Laboratory has developed a range of skills and techniques that can be used as building blocks to create low-power solutions. Among these is the ultra-low-power CoolFlux DSP core technology developed at the laboratory and now marketed worldwide as VLSI IP . This and other in-house solutions are also combined with results from a network of partners with whom the laboratory cooperates. Examples of such partners are Philips Research Laboratories, Leuven, investigating ultra low power logic and storage in deep sub-micron technologies, and Target Compiler Technologies (a leader in C-compiler tools for DSP), exploiting parallel processing for low power. As displays tend to be power hungry, Philips Applied Technologies is also investigating low-power displays such as 'e-paper' (electronic paper) displays based on the latest low-power electrophoretic display technology.

 

Besides Cochlear Implants, Philips Applied Technologies is in close contact with other manufacturers interested in the new technology and is actively redeploying the technology into new areas.

 

Utilizing experience in hearing systems

Utilizing its experience in hearing systems, it has supported a Dutch start-up company, Varibel, in developing battery-powered glasses that double as hearing aids. The glasses contain tiny microphones (4 in each arm of the glasses) that pick up sounds and separate them from background noise. Traditional hearing aids intensify sounds coming from all directions, making it difficult for the wearer to focus on conversations. In contrast, the 4 microphones in each arm of the Varibel glasses are configured to intensify sounds from the front while dampening noise from the sides. The wearer can choose what to hear simply by looking in the relevant direction. Besides providing the overall development project management, Philips Applied Technologies was also responsible for the system architecture, the software and electronic implementation.

 

In the area of personal healthcare and vital-signs monitoring using ultra-low power wearable devices, Philips Applied Technologies contributed to a demonstration project called Field Lab directed at real-time, remote-controlled performance assessment of professional sports people This was a joint activity of Philips, the Dutch football club PSV Eindhoven, TNO (the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research) plus several universities and other technology companies. Playing a key role in this project was a prototype of a wearable, wireless monitoring system that measures and analyses the wearer’s body signals. This was developed by Philips Applied Technologies, Leuven in cooperation with Philips Research, Aachen. Called Cardiostrap, it enables the heart rates of footballers to be measured remotely during training. It is also able to correlate vital signs with physical activity to provide better information on a player’s condition during particular training sessions.

Interest in Ultra Low Power Technology is also coming from the consumer markets, notably portable MP3 and Multimedia manufacturers.

 

High resolution pictures:

 

Ultra Low Power Technology has been developed for leading hearing implant manufacturer Cochlear Implants, a development which led in April this year to it receiving the Medical Design Excellence Award 2006.

Click image to download high resolution image

 

Related information:

 

Press inquiries please contact:

 

Philips Applied Technologies
Joost Maltha
Tel.: +31 (0) 40 27 48882
E-mail: joost.maltha@philips.com
www.apptech.philips.com

 

About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of $37.7 billion (EUR 30.4 billion) in 2005. With activities in the three interlocking domains of healthcare, lifestyle and technology and 159,200 employees in more than 60 countries, it has market leadership positions in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, color television sets, electric shavers, lighting and silicon system solutions. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.