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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: 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