September 2024- Samsung Electronics introduced a new Samsung Health Software Development Kit (SDK) Suite. Designed to better support developers and researchers in creating innovative healthcare solutions, the SDK Suite leverages Samsung’s advanced sensor technology and comprehensive Samsung Health platform. The new complete package of sensor, data, accessory and research stack components is now readily accessible to an expanded range of partners, developers and researchers.
Sensor SDK: Advancing Health Services Development
The Sensor SDK provides developers with Samsung’s powerful BioActive Sensor algorithm on the Galaxy Watch, empowering them to explore new sectors of health services and create advanced new solutions. The BioActive Sensor measures a diverse range of health metrics including heart rate, skin temperature, electrocardiogram (ECG) and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). A notable update features continuous access to Photoplethysmogram (PPG) Infrared (IR) and Red LED sensor data for the first time. This advancement will help enhance health services related to blood oxygen level (SpO2) to improve sleep quality and beyond. The upgraded BIA now provides additional measurements — magnitude and degree — expanding on the existing eight indicators, including skeletal muscle mass and body fat mass, to present more precise body composition analysis to offer deeper insights into overall physical health.
Data SDK: Unlocking Value in Healthcare
Starting in October, the newly added Data SDK enables developers to utilize integrated health data gathered from diverse devices such as Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Ring, smartphones or even third-party devices to create innovative digital health solutions. Data SDK provides access to health metrics on the Samsung Health app — including sleep, exercise, blood pressure, food intake and blood glucose levels — analyzed by its advanced algorithm. These streamlined insights generated by Samsung Health enable developers to enhance their productivity when developing the healthcare services.
Also Read: What’s new in Apple’s health features for billions?
Accessory SDK: Unified Health Device Insights
With Accessory SDK, developers can integrate compatible third-party health devices — such as blood pressure monitors, fitness devices like bike sensors, heart rate monitors and even glucose monitors — through the Samsung Health app. This makes it easy to view health status information in one place without activating separate third-party apps, promoting a seamless and simplified experience and expanding the ecosystem for end-to-end health management.
Research Stack: Empowering Healthcare Industry Support
Research Stack is an open-source project that aims to expand the digital health research ecosystem. Research Stack creates a flexible and versatile research environment, by providing not only the mobile and wearable app SDK but also web portal and backend services, to support all stages of the research process, from recruitment and surveys to progress tracking and results monitoring.
The recently updated Research Stack boasts a comprehensive toolset developed based on valuable feedback from research institutions and their experiences implementing complex, large-scale studies. Additionally, the forthcoming 2.0 version will directly integrate Sensor SDK and Data SDK from the Health SDK Suite. Research Stack has already been used by leading institutions as part of their research and discovery processes, underscoring Samsung’s active support for the healthcare industry, providing researchers with more efficient studies and meaningful results.
