Trials have been completed of the American Equus EQx VitalsSensor, the first wirelessly charged equine health tracking sensor.
Built with Energous Corporation’s WattUp® wireless charging 2.0 technology and designed for the professional horseracing market, the sensor monitors and tracks the animal’s vital statistics such as temperature, heart rate and leg position.
“We’re thrilled our health monitoring wearable sensor has successfully completed trials and is on track for customer availability in early 2021,” said David Shano, president at American Equus. “Energous, 28Gorilla and Imagine Manufacturing have developed a highly durable, waterproof wireless charging tracker ideally suited for the high demands of the horseracing industry.”
The sensor was developed by industrial design firm 28Gorilla and built by Imagine Manufacturing for American Equus. Following the announcement of Energous’ partnership with 28Gorilla in May 2020, the sensor has undergone and completed trials, and will soon be commercially available through American Equus. The waterproof sensor is attached to the outside of a horse’s lower tendon via an ankle wrap or boot and monitors the temperature of the tendon/skin surface through an infrared sensor. All four legs are monitored, and data is transmitted through a Bluetooth connection to the rider or monitoring station. If any single temperature deviates from the mean of the device’s four sensors past a predetermined point, an alarm is sent to the user indicating a tendon may be injured or of concern.
The American Equus EQx VitalsSensor features WattUp wireless charging technology, enabling a form factor that foregoes a charging port, reducing the likelihood of failure due to a dirty or wet contact resulting from unpredictable horse track conditions.
“The successful trials are a huge step toward bringing the first-ever wirelessly charged equine health tracking sensor to market. The coming availability of the American Equus EQx VitalsSensor provides American Equus with an innovative device for tracking a horse’s health with superior convenience, durability and flexibility,” said Stephen R. Rizzone, president and CEO of Energous Corporation. “The wireless sensor market is projected to expand significantly in the next five years; we expect to see additional sensors for a variety of specialized applications emerge, including medical and IoT, developed with WattUp RF-based wireless charging technology.”
Energous’ WattUp wireless charging 2.0 technology, which enables both contact and distance charging, provides a number of possible benefits for wireless charging, including the ability to be designed into devices with non-flat surfaces. It also eliminates cords, as well as inputs/outputs on a device, enabling products to be waterproof and able to withstand harsh outdoor environments. These capabilities have broad applicability to a variety of device manufacturers in the wireless sensor market, which is projected to grow from $5B in 2019 to $14.6B by 2025. Such devices inherently require greater design flexibility due to their size, performance requirements, and environments in which they operate.
