Continua chooses Bluetooth, ZigBee for personal monitoring devices

The Continua Health Alliance, a coalition of healthcare and technology firms, is recommending Bluetooth short-range wireless technology for a new generation of activity monitors, heart-rate sensors and other fitness devices. The group also has chosen ZigBee Health Care, a newly developed wireless standard for assistive devices, to transmit data from motion detectors, bed pressure sensors and similar monitors that allow seniors and other injury-prone patients to live independently. Continua is including both standards of its next version of interoperability design guidelines, due out in the first half of 2010.

"Continua's commitment to utilize established connectivity standards, such as Bluetooth and ZigBee, will provide the tangible technology base for more widespread telemedicine and remote patient monitoring in the next 12 to 24 months," said Lynne A. Dunbrack, program director of Health Industry Insights. "Together, Bluetooth low energy technology and ZigBee Health Care transport solutions will open new use cases to new classes of devices and services."

For details about these two standards:
- read this story from Silicon Republic (Ireland)
- check out the Continua Health Alliance press release
- see the companion announcement from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group