Jean Anne Booth's mother was not about to wear an emergency alert device. "She thinks they're ugly, they are limited outside the home unless they are tethered to a smartphone (which she doesn't have), and she finds those big help buttons socially stigmatizing," Booth said. This revelation led Booth to found UnaliWear and create the Kanega smartwatch. Voice-controlled, water-proof, and self-contained, the Kanega watch provides medication reminders, emergency assistance, directions, fall detection, and guide-me-home assistance. For the watch to be a success, the company needed very accurate fuel gauges to assess battery state-of-charge, and all of the components had to be very small and meet stringent power management requirements.
UnaliWear addressed its design challenges with Maxim ICs, including fuel gauges, amplifiers, voltage regulators, step-up converters, and many other components. Read the UnaliWear testimonial to learn more about how the company used these ICs to create a solution that enables independence with dignity.
