Bosch Sensortec’s ultra-low power, high-performance BMP585 barometric pressure sensor has been validated for the Snapdragon Wear Elite Platform and is integrated into the Snapdragon Wear Elite Platform’s reference design. This collaboration provides the platform’s advanced on-device AI capabilities with exceptionally accurate pressure data, enabling precise altitude tracking and a new layer of contextual awareness for next-generation wearables.
Validation of the BMP585 with the Snapdragon Wear Elite Platform allows for a host of advanced features, including:
- Enhanced fitness tracking: Wearables can generate precise elevation profiles for activities like hiking, running, and cycling, and accurately track floors climbed.
- Emergency services (E911): In an emergency, the sensor provides critical vertical location data (z-axis) to supplement GPS, helping first responders pinpoint a user’s exact floor within a multi-story building.
- Smarter user context: The highly accurate altitude data enriches the on-device AI, allowing wearables to better understand the user’s situation, for example, differentiating between walking on a flat surface and climbing stairs.
Adding to its suitability for all-day wear, the BMP585 is a ruggedised barometric pressure sensor. It is designed with a specialised gel-filled cavity, providing robust resistance against common liquids including water, salt water, and chlorinated pool water, ensuring high reliability during fitness and everyday activities.
“Great AI enabled wearables start with highly accurate sensors. Bosch’s validated sensor data helps deliver contextual intelligence and supports advanced on device experiences,” says John Kehrli, Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Bosch Sensortec’s BMP585 meets these needs perfectly. We are delighted to collaborate with Bosch to validate their sensor, which helps enable the advanced location, fitness, and context-aware use cases that will define the next generation of intelligent wearables.”
This collaboration highlights the critical role that specialised, power-efficient sensors play in enabling advanced wearable features. As a key partner to the wearables industry, Bosch Sensortec is committed to providing the foundational technology for the next wave of intelligent devices.
“We are proud that our BMP585 sensor can help to enable the advanced contextual awareness in devices powered by the new Snapdragon Wear Elite Platform,” says Stefan Finkbeiner, CEO at Bosch Sensortec. “This is a perfect example of our strategy: providing a complete portfolio of high-performance sensors, from motion sensors to environmental sensors, to help our partners build the next generation of intelligent wearables.”
By fusing data from motion sensors with our family of environmental sensors, Bosch Sensortec delivers a rich, multi-layered data stream. This allows a device to understand the user’s complete situation, moving beyond what they are doing to include where they are doing it. With this data, manufacturers can build sophisticated, high-value applications like automatic workout detection, fall detection, personal air quality measurement and seamless indoor navigation, creating the next generation of intelligent personal electronics from wearables and hearables to XR headsets and glasses.
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