Hoping to drive more "plug-and-play" connectivity of personal health technologies, Continua Health Alliance has made available its most recent design guidelines as a free download for device vendors.

The design guidelines, called Adrenaline, aim to help technology developers build end-to-end systems more efficiently and cost-effectively by facilitating connectivity between personal connected health products such as smartphones, gateways and remote monitoring devices. They were previously available only to Continua members during interoperability testing.

[See also: Continua certifies first Apple iOS solution, based on WAN guidelines.]
 
“Making the latest Continua Design Guidelines available to the public for free is an important milestone, enabling vendors to create devices that make the collection and sharing of personal health data convenient and secure for consumers and healthcare providers," said Clint McClellan, Continua board president and senior director of strategic marketing at Qualcomm Life. "Availability of our guidelines will also promote creativity among systems integrators to develop novel solutions."


He added that the guidelines are meant to "decrease time-to-market and reduce development costs, further supporting the widespread adoption of personal connected health solutions.”
 
Continua also announced new guidlines for its members. Called Catalyst, and currently undergoing interoperatbility testing, officials say they incorporate Bluetooth Smart, the low energy technology at the heart of the Bluetooth v4.0 specification. The low power consumption, security and stability of Bluetooth Smart products makes them well-suited for health and fitness devices; monitoring systems for vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure and temperature; or on-body sensors. Continua plans to publicly release these guidelines at no cost later this year.

[See also: Continua offers guidelines for connected healthcare technology.]
 
This will "facilitate more efficient connectivity, advancing our vision to create an ecosystem of plug-and-play products and services for health self-management and healthcare delivery," said McClellan. "Devices powered by Bluetooth Smart technology use a fraction of the power of Bluetooth Classic, and, in many cases, will not require recharging for over a year, making this an important technology for health and wellness monitoring programs.”
 
Continua Design Guidelines are developed by Continua and complete an eight month, internal pilot program before public release. Each set of Guidelines is subject to interoperability testing to ensure Continua certified products and services connect to other products or systems without restrictions or specific implementation. Continua issued its original Design Guidelines in 2008 and 2010, and is working to release additional Design Guidelines each year, officials say.