Texas Instruments Inc. unveiled the fully integrated analog front ends (AFEs) for photometry. The new analog integrated circuits (ICs) support TI HealthTech's vision for helping engineers design innovative electronics for transforming healthcare worldwide. The AFE44xx family integrates all the front end components and associated timing control circuitry of a typical photometry solution.

Applications include clinical and home health pulse oximeters, photometry-based blood glucose meters, and photoplethysmograph-based (PPG) heart rate monitors. The AFE44xx family will be showcased at CES 2013 in the TI Village, North Hall, in the Las Vegas Convention Center. By incorporating fully programmable transmitter and receiver circuits into one device, the AFE44xx family reduces end equipment manufacturers' design time, board space and need for in-house analog design expertise compared to discrete solutions.

With less than 1-mA supply current, the AFE44xx family consumes less power than discrete solutions, which results in longer battery life. The AFE44xx family enables optimal measurement performance, even in ambient light settings. Key features and benefits: Faster time to market and smaller form factor: The AFE44xx family's receive path includes a programmable transimpedance amplifier (TIA), ambient cancellation circuitry and analog-to-digital converter (ADC).

The transmit path incorporates the LED driver and programmable 8-bit current source of up to 150 mA. With both transmit and receive paths integrated into a single device, less time and board space is required to design with the device. Low power: The AFE44xx family consumes less than 1 mA of power, to extend battery life.

Simple diagnostics for easier design and debugging: The AFE44xx family's open/short detection features make it easier for engineers to diagnose system errors during design. Reduced demand on system software: The AFE44xx family provides a flexible integrated timing controller module that significantly reduces the demands and overhead on system software. Both the AFE4490 and the AFE4400 are available now in a compact 6-mm x 6-mm, 40-pin QFN package.

The AFE4490 is priced at $7.95 and the AFE4400 is priced at $2.95 in quantities of 1,000.