An activity monitor is a low-power, portable device used to measure and record such things as body movement and temperature for the purpose of tracking physical performance and number of calories consumed. Personal activity monitoring can provide an objective means for tracking one’s physical fitness progress.
An MCU should be chosen for its ability to handle the potentially substantial amount of data from a 3-axis accelerometer. Battery efficiency is another consideration, which may or may not present a trade-off with processor performance. When active, a 32-bit microcontroller will typically consume more current; however, it may only need to remain in a non-sleep state for a fraction of the time required by an 8-bit MCU.
Major subsystems include:
- Microcontroller
- Force and temperature sensing circuitry
- I/O: keyboard and display or touchscreen
- Connectivity: USB, Bluetooth etc.
- Power management
