Download (LVL – The First Wearable Hydration Monitor, 2016).

LVL – The First Wearable Hydration Monitor
What is LVL?
LVL is the first wearable hydration monitor device which measures hydration and heart rate
using red light technology, sleep, activity and calories for 24/7 (LVL – The First Wearable
Hydration Monitor, 2016). It also provides the user with the full picture of his/her health and
the amount of water for instance needed to improve it (LVL – The First Wearable Hydration
Monitor, 2016).
Analyse Design Principle
The human body consists of 70% water. The necessity of tracking body hydration is needed
to be aware of the body condition to avoid dehydration which can cause serious health issues.
The evolution of technology has made it possible to monitor body hydration through
electronic devices like the LVL the first wearable hydration and heart rate monitor using the
red-light technology (LVL – The First Wearable Hydration Monitor, 2016). The technology
was developed to reach inside the tissue of the body at a high level of accuracy (Red Light
Versus Green Light, 2016). According to the CEO Dustin Freckleton that behind this product
is the terrifying medical emergency story caused by the dehydration that happened to him
which lead to the inspiration for LVL hydration monitoring (Freckleton, 2016).
Following from the previous, it should be mentioned that there are two methods to measure
the heart rate in the field with the use of light, green light and red light (Red Light Versus
Green Light, 2016). Measuring hydration and heart rate can “involves shining light onto the
surface of the skin, recording the variation in light intensity that is transmitted through the
tissue as blood perfuses the superficial layers, and then using signal processing to convert the
transmission variations into a heart rate” (Red Light Versus Green Light, 2016). However,
according to the information found on the website, the green light technology which used by
wearable devices like Garmin vivosmart HR+ (Stables, 2016) and Polar A360 (Polar A360
Fitness tracker with wrist-based heart rate, 2016) products has some defects, making it
inaccurate. It is affected by the differences in skin tone which results in varying
measurements. Moreover, the green light cannot reach deeper through the skin into the
hydration muscle saturation because it is absorbed by the body which makes it unable to
measure hydration (Red Light Versus Green Light, 2016).
According to the information found on the blog (Red Light Versus Green Light, 2016) it
seems that the main advantage of using red light which is used by LVL is that it is nonabsorbable by hemoglobin and melanin making it 10 times more effective in reaching deeper
tissues and scanning multiple sensitive layers. It allows it to sense and measure the hydration,
heart rate, muscle oxygenation and more, the red light does not affect the skin colour as the
green light does (Red Light Versus Green Light, 2016).
Dehydration can be detected from the skin texture and moisture (Howard, n.d.). There are
different types of product that use the idea of measuring hydration will be displayed. On one
hand, the digital skin analyser LCD detects, measures and displays the skin’s oil moisture
(Precision Digital LCD Display Skin Analyzer, n.d.). The product weight is 49g / 1.73oz and
size 145mm – 45mm – 28mm and it costs £7.37 (Precision Digital LCD Display Skin
Analyzer, n.d.). However, after reading the functionality of this device and conclude that this
device is not accurate for the hydration testing because it tests only the skin surface and the
hydration is deep inside the tissues of the body. One the other hand, body composition
monitor scale is a body scale that measures hydration and other features while the user is
standing on top of the scale. The scale display the result in LCD screen and weights 2.2kg
with dimensions 300mm x 300mm x 26mm and it costs £18 (body composition monitor
scale, 2016). Although it measures the main parts of one’s body health state and it is a
bathroom scale it is not portable to use everywhere and any time. LVL weighs 50g to put in
into perspective, the device size is 17mm x 45mm with the screen size 12mm x 24mm
compared to the scale and the digital skin analyser (LVL – The First Wearable Hydration
Monitor, 2016).
Functional Analysis
The market for wearable devices is competitive nowadays, it is a necessity to make new
features to attract consumers for purchasing their product. After researching about the
wearable devises, it turns out that the most products on the market for wearable monitor
devices use the green light technology for the heart rate measurement and other features
although due to the limitation of this technology they’re less accuracy. However, unlike the
previously mentioned products, the LVL uses the red-light technology in a wearable device to
measure heart rate and hydration (Red Light Versus Green Light, 2016).
There are six Features of an LVL device. It measures hydration using infrared red light
technology giving real time notification, accurate sweat rate measurement, heart rate HR
zones industry with accuracy that outperforms competition by x8, sleep with smart alarm and
auto sleep function, mood; that compares mood with hydration analysis, activity tracking the
steps and distance that the user walked with the heart rate and hydration integration (LVL –
The First Wearable Hydration Monitor, 2016). Another feature is calorie tracking, also smart
tracking during exercise and diet recommendations for optimized hydration and nutrition
based on sweating rate and exercise and all those measurements are updated for 24/7 (LVL –
The First Wearable Hydration Monitor, 2016).
The measurement for LVL was taken by testing hundreds of athletes in the labs for four
years to measure hydration using the standards in biometric sensing to find the algorithm of
the LVL that used to monitor the hydration (LVL – The First Wearable Hydration Monitor,
2016). After researching it shown that there are a vast of devices that measure the other
features of the LVL and they are compared and illustrated with the LVL features and price in
Table 1 below.
Table 1: Comparing product with LVL features.
Features
LVL
Garmin vivosmart HR+
Polar A360
Hydration
Using infrared red light.
No feature
No feature
Heart rate
Using infrared red light
Using the green light
Using the green light.
Sleep
Smart alarm and auto
sleep function
No feature
Automatic track the
sleep and quality.
Activity
tracking distance with
heart rate and hydration
integration
Tracking daily activity
with GPS.
Tracking Activity for
24/7 measuring speed
and distance.
Mood
Combining mood with
hydration analysis
No feature
No feature
Calories
Measuring for 24/7
Tracking distance using
during exercise
the GPS.
customize showing the
user exactly how much
they need fluid based on
the sweat rate level
measurement for
improved hydration and
nutrition.
Number of calories
burned are calculated
by combining the
personal data (weight,
height, age, and
gender) with the daily
activity of the heart
rate.
Price
£149.99
£169.50
£169.99
Believing that the potential functionality could be enhanced in the product LVL and used
for other purposes like for the heart patients. The accuracy of the design in the method of
measuring the heart rate is very precise for keeping track of the heart rate of the patient to
normal pulse and if the pulse changes suddenly and becomes unstable then this would make
the patient go through an emergency case and the device would send a message to the family
and the hospital for help.
Conclusion:
Overall, the necessity of tracking the health of the body makes the market competitive in
making convenient devices that could offer the consumers a general picture of their health
condition. LVL is taking the lead of the wearable devices for monitoring the health and
activity, because of the accuracy of their measurement and the technology that is used
intensely in the medical field (LVL – The First Wearable Hydration Monitor, 2016).
Reference list:
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Howard, D. (n.d.). the Top Three Causes of Dry, Dehydrated Skin. the international
dermal institute UK. Retrieved from
http://www.dermalinstitute.com/uk/library/18_article_The_Top_Three_Causes_of_Dry_D
ehydrated_Skin.html
LVL – The First Wearable Hydration Monitor. (2016). Retrieved from
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lactate-threshold/lvl-the-first-wearablehydration-monitor/description
Polar A360 Fitness tracker with wrist-based heart rate. (2016). Retrieved from
https://www.polar.com/uk-en/products/sport/A360
Precision Digital LCD Display Skin Analyzer. (2016). Retrieved from
http://www.tomtop.com/temperature-humidity-instrument-191/pe0572p.html?currency=GBP&lang=en&aid=gplagb&gclid=CPuPx7OzzNACFfUW0
wodOf0Lqw
Red Light Versus Green Light. (2016). Retrieved from
https://medium.com/bsxtechnologies/red-light-versus-green-light74fdd5fe7027#.7gq60l2hu
Stables, J. (2016). Garmin Vivosmart HR+ review. Retrieved from
https://www.wareable.com/garmin/garmin-vivosmart-hr-plus-review
Source Active. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hydration-MonitorComposition-Analyser-Bathroom-x/dp/B014UWFZC6