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Category Archives: Electronic Design

LoRa — When a Little Data Needs to Travel a Long Way

Not every connected product needs Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or a mobile data connection when LoRa is an option.

Sometimes the requirement is much simpler: send a relatively small amount of information, use very little power, cover a considerable distance and do it reliably without adding significant cost or infrastructure.

In those circumstances, LoRa can be a remarkably effective solution.

Long range without high power

LoRa — short for Long Range — is a low-power radio technology designed specifically for applications where relatively small amounts of data need to be transmitted over much greater distances than would normally be practical with technologies such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi but it still enjoys the advantage of licence free operation.

At Arrow Technical we have used LoRa in real applications and carried out our own range testing. Under suitable conditions, we have achieved reliable communication at distances of up to approximately 4 km at the full data rate.

That is an impressive distance for a small, low-cost radio module operating at very modest power levels.

Of course, radio range always depends upon the environment. Buildings, terrain, antenna positioning, interference and installation details all have an effect. But even where maximum range isn’t required, LoRa’s generous link budget can provide something equally valuable: robust communications at shorter distances in less-than-ideal conditions.

The trade-off is data rate

There is no magic involved. LoRa achieves its combination of range, robustness and low power consumption partly by accepting relatively low data rates.

If you need to stream video, audio or large quantities of data, LoRa is clearly the wrong technology.

But many electronic products don’t need to do that.

A remote sensor might only need to report a temperature, level, pressure, alarm condition or equipment status periodically. A control system may only need to transmit a few bytes to operate an actuator or confirm that something has happened.

For applications like these, sacrificing bandwidth that isn’t needed in exchange for greater range and lower power consumption can be an excellent engineering trade-off.

Designed for applications where batteries need to last

Low power consumption becomes particularly important when both ends of a wireless system need to operate from batteries.

Applications we have developed using LoRa where both parts needed to be battery powered, had a target operating life measured in years rather than days or weeks.

LoRa lends itself particularly well to these types of application. Devices can remain in very low-power states for much of the time, waking when necessary to exchange relatively small amounts of information before returning to sleep.

This can make applications practical where regularly changing or recharging batteries would be inconvenient, expensive or simply unrealistic.

Useful in difficult and hazardous environments

Low-power operation can have advantages beyond simply extending battery life.

It can also be particularly valuable when designing equipment for difficult or hazardous environments. In applications requiring intrinsically safe equipment, controlling the amount of electrical energy available within the equipment is a fundamental part of the design.

At Arrow Technical we are currently working on LoRa-based equipment for which intrinsic safety certification is required in several international regions. Certification is underway as the products are progressing through that process.

LoRa does not itself make a product intrinsically safe — the complete product electronic design, including its energy storage, circuitry, component selection, PCB design and construction, has to be designed and assessed accordingly.

However, the very low power requirements possible with LoRa can make it an attractive communications technology when developing battery-powered equipment for these demanding environments.

LoRa doesn’t necessarily mean LoRaWAN

LoRa and LoRaWAN are sometimes used as though they mean the same thing, but there is an important distinction.

LoRa is the underlying radio technology. LoRaWAN is a networking protocol built around it, allowing devices to communicate through gateways and potentially onwards to internet or cloud services.

For some applications LoRaWAN is exactly what is required.

For others, a much simpler direct LoRa point-to-point or local network may be preferable. If all that is required is for a handful of devices to communicate across a site, there may be little benefit in adding unnecessary network infrastructure or cloud services.

As always, the right solution depends upon what the product actually needs to do and Arrow Technical are experienced and well placed to advise how best to deploy it.

Choosing the technology to suit the problem

LoRa isn’t a replacement for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Matter, cellular communications or other wireless technologies. They each solve different problems.

But where the requirements include:

  • relatively small amounts of data;
  • very low power consumption;
  • battery operating life potentially measured in years;
  • long communication distances;
  • robust operation;
  • relatively low hardware cost; and
  • little or no existing communications infrastructure,

LoRa deserves serious consideration.

The important part of designing a wireless product isn’t choosing the newest or most fashionable technology. It is choosing the technology whose characteristics best match the application.

At Arrow Technical, we have practical experience designing LoRa communications into electronic products — including battery-powered tracking systems, low-power product design and real-world long-range testing.

If you have a product that needs to communicate reliably over a significant distance — particularly where power, cost or the operating environment present additional constraints — send us the requirements and let our engineers take a look. LoRa may provide a much simpler solution than you expect.

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Matter — Making Smart Products Easier For Everybody

Many electronic products now need to be connected, monitored or controlled as part of a wider system. Until recently, that could mean developing not only the product itself, but also the communications infrastructure, a user interface and sometimes a cloud service.

Matter offers another approach.

By designing a sensor, actuator or control unit to work within the Matter ecosystem, manufacturers can use established platforms such as Apple Home and Google Home, running on smartphones and other devices, for commissioning, control and automation. This allows engineering effort to be concentrated on the part of the product that actually differentiates it, while taking advantage of an ecosystem and user interface that already exists.

What is Matter?

Matter is an industry standard designed to allow compatible connected products from different manufacturers to work together.

Rather than a manufacturer having to develop a complete proprietary system, a Matter-compatible device can become part of an established ecosystem. Users can add devices, monitor and control them, and create automations using familiar interfaces such as Apple Home or Google Home.

Importantly, Matter is not tied to one phone or equipment manufacturer. Compatible devices from different suppliers can work together within the same system, reducing dependence on proprietary hardware and software.

Concentrate on the part that adds value

Consider a manufacturer developing a specialist environmental sensor.

Traditionally, the sensor itself might be only one part of the development. The complete product could also require communications hardware and software, a gateway, a dedicated user interface or app and perhaps supporting cloud infrastructure.

With Matter, much of that wider ecosystem already exists.

Engineering effort can therefore be concentrated on what makes the product different — perhaps the sensing technology, accuracy, packaging, power consumption, environmental protection or specialist application knowledge.

The same principle applies to actuators and control products: switches, valves, motors, lighting controls, ventilation equipment and many other devices.

Why reinvent the whole system when much of it already exists?
It just needs packaging differently.

What if the device you need doesn’t exist?

An increasing range of Matter-compatible sensors and actuators are already available off-the-shelf. But sometimes the particular device required for a specific application simply doesn’t exist.  Perhaps a sensor needs to measure an unusual parameter, operate in a difficult environment or interface with existing equipment. An actuator may require a particular mechanical arrangement, power output or control function. This is where custom electronics can fill the gap.

Arrow Technical can design and manufacture a specialist sensor, actuator or control unit where a suitable standard product isn’t available. Matter compatibility can then allow that custom device to become part of a much wider established system without having to develop the complete system from scratch.

Not just for the home

Although Matter is commonly associated with home automation, the same approach can be useful in commercial environments such as shops, offices, workshops, restaurants and small industrial units.

Applications could include:

  • environmental monitoring;
  • occupancy sensing;
  • lighting and heating control;
  • ventilation;
  • refrigeration monitoring;
  • energy measurement;
  • water-leak detection;
  • doors, shutters and other security-related functions.

 

A small business may not need the complexity or expense of a conventional Building Management System, but could still benefit considerably from automatic monitoring and control — particularly where ease of setup, low-cost, energy saving, security or early detection of problems provides a clear financial benefit.

Matter and connectivity

Matter can operate over familiar IP networking technologies including Wi-Fi and Thread. Thread is a low-power wireless mesh technology particularly suited to embedded devices such as battery-powered sensors, and the necessary network infrastructure may already exist in products such as Apple HomePod, Apple TV and compatible Google Nest devices.  For many users, however, the underlying technology can remain largely invisible — they simply add a compatible device to their existing system and use the interface they already know. They don’t need to concern themselves how it works – they can rely on the fact that it just does.

Easier doesn’t mean no engineering

Matter doesn’t make every electronic device automatically compatible with every automation platform.  Products still need to be properly designed around supported Matter device types and functions, with appropriate consideration given to communications, security, firmware, certification and product reliability.

For unusual applications, additional integration may still be required and specialists, like Arrow Technical are there to help when unusual appears to be impossible.

But compared with developing an entirely proprietary connected-product ecosystem, Matter can substantially change where the engineering effort needs to be spent.

Could Matter simplify your next product?

If you are developing a sensor, actuator or control product — or have an application where the device you need simply isn’t available off the shelf or making it work is proving too challenging to handle internally — talk to Arrow Technical.

There may be an opportunity to develop the specialist hardware and software your application requires while using Matter and established automation platforms to provide much of the wider system around it.

 

Concentrate your development effort on what makes your product different — and take advantage of what already exists to get effective solutions to market before anybody else does.

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Embedded AI Hype, or a Useful New Engineering Tool?

Artificial Intelligence seems to be everywhere at the moment. As engineers, however, we’re rather more interested in what Embedded AI can actually do than what the latest hype says it might do.

At Arrow Technical, our experience with neural networks goes back much further than the current AI boom. We’ve seen first-hand how machine learning-based approaches can sometimes solve problems that become extremely difficult using conventional maths-based algorithms.

What’s changing now is the practicality of putting that intelligence directly into everyday electronic products without massively inflating the unit price.

The right tool for the job

Take a conventional control problem. A well-designed PID controller can be an elegant, reliable and inexpensive solution — and in many applications it remains exactly what we would recommend.

But real-world systems aren’t always so accommodating.

Changing loads, temperature, component ageing and multiple interacting real-world variables can make conventional control increasingly difficult. Engineers can find themselves adding ever more complicated rules, exceptions and algorithms to accommodate situations that are difficult to predict in advance.

This is where embedded AI and machine learning become interesting.

Rather than attempting to describe every possible situation mathematically, a system can learn characteristics from data, recognise patterns and potentially adapt its response to changing conditions.

It doesn’t necessarily replace conventional control either. In many applications, the best solution may combine proven deterministic control techniques with machine learning providing an additional layer of intelligence.

What’s changed?

The principles behind neural networks certainly aren’t new. What has changed dramatically is the processing power, development tools and specialist AI hardware now available at an embedded-system level.

Capabilities that once required expensive computing hardware can increasingly be incorporated directly into PCB-based products — often without requiring a permanent connection to a cloud service.

That creates opportunities for smarter control, predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, sensor interpretation and products that can respond more intelligently to the real world around them.

But there is still an important engineering question to answer:

Will AI actually make this product better?

At Arrow Technical, we believe emerging technologies are most valuable when they’re treated as engineering tools rather than fashionable marketing features.

Sometimes the right answer will still be a simple microcontroller running a conventional algorithm. In more challenging applications, embedded AI may now offer capabilities that simply weren’t commercially practical before.

Knowing the difference is where experience counts.

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Advanced Test Services

We are already well known for developing advanced electronic products for numerous blue-chip clients. Most people are aware that we design products from an early idea to a fully working prototype. However, fewer people are aware that our technical services extend way beyond the creation of a prototype and that we follow the project through to volume PCB Assembly (PCBA).

Most modern products which are sold in the UK, EU and further afield such as the Middle East, Australasia and Northern America must be tested to various national standards which apply in each geographical region around the world, and this can be extremely expensive to the uninitiated.

Arrow Technical have been advising clients how to meet the different technical standards, such as UKCA, CE, UL and ISO for many years and we work closely with several test houses who provide qualified test reports, traceable to national standards, to prove the product under test does indeed meet the appropriate standards required for sales into a specific market.  We also prepare Technical Construction Files as some product types require – especially electronic ones.

Testing to national standards is a time consuming and expensive process and it is only valid when done on a production ready sample as will be sold. It is not unusual, for some people to consider their electronic product’s compatibility only right at the end of the design process when the cost of making any late alterations to the electronic design or PCB layout adds precious time and additional cost to the overall process of making the product meet the required standard.

Using our in-house test facility, we can design and test the performance of the product for EMC compatibility, electrical safety and general UL compatibility from the start and if we spot anything unusual then we have plenty of time to identify the problem and fix it.  When we are happy that the product meets our in-house pre-compliance tests then we are reasonably certain that we will get a satisfactory result when the final product is submitted to a (expensive) certified test house.

RF Emissions

RF Emissions Spectrum

 

Depending on the product type, we also do reliability testing such the example shown below.  Functionaly and visually, the prototype worked perfectly but when viewed by our thermal imaging system then an undesireable hot-spot became apparent.  After about half an hour of testing we measured temperatures up to 130C which would degrade the component over time and it would eventually fail.  After the redesign we only recorded temperatures around 50C which would extend the product life significantly.

 

PCB Assembly (PCBA)

Visual Image

PCB With 130C Hotspot

Thermal Image with 130C Hot-Spot

PCBA

No Hotspot

 

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Electric vehicle battery breakthrough coming soon!

With much of the talk in recent years gearing towards Elon Musk’s views concerning the Electric vehicle, it is a breath of fresh air to hear from somebody new. Musk’s dramatic market breakthrough made with Tesla put him in a leading position and it‘s now hard to see how he leaves much room for any other upcoming or established manufacturers of electric vehicles to make their own mark. This breakthrough was displayed by his ability to show how electric vehicles can be manufactured reliably and sold to the general public in relatively large quantities. Not only that but he made them fun, stylish and enjoyable to drive which was arguably lacking in the market for electric vehicles before that time. But, it appears that Elon has posed an interesting question during an earning call with a select audience. The question posed was “Can somebody please come up with a battery breakthrough? “. This was brought on by recent news of Toyota working on a solid state battery informed to him during the earning call. Solid State batteries are still a relatively unproven technology with regards to powering a car.

The Major difference between what Tesla uses currently in their range of vehicles (Lithium-ion Battery) and Solid state batteries is that the commonly used Lithium-ion makes use of a liquid electrolytic solution to regulate flow of current. On the other hand, solid state batteries incorporate a solid electrolyte. Although these changes still do not affect the fundamental way the battery works, it does change some performance specifications such as maximum storage capacity, charging time, size and safety. So you can see how this would be beneficial to the Electric Vehicle industry. It does come with its drawbacks though which is currently the cost. As a Product development consultancy, we would generally suggest a solid state battery if the customer is willing to accept the higher price tag.

Electronic circuit design

Size comparison

Recent news of Toyota developing a Solid state battery technology has been noted by the CEO of another Electric Vehicle company, rivalling Elon Musk’s Tesla, named Henrik Fisker. The name may sound familiar as he is the founder of Fisker Automotive. The company arrived on the electric vehicle scene in 2007 and shortly afterwards went bankrupt but they have recently started up again under the name Fisker, Inc. Henrik has stated that on his upcoming luxury electric Sedan, to be named “Emotion”, instead of using the Lithium-ion battery option his team are currently just months away from adding the final design touches for a solid state battery that will be used to power the Sedan instead. This breakthrough means that Fisker could pose a serious threat to Tesla in the luxury electric car market in terms of performance and we could also be seeing a wider variety of such vehicles on our roads soon.

Clever Electronic circuit designs to pair with the batteries will play a vital role in monitoring and ensuring the performance and safety of the batteries into the market. Arrow Technical are at the forefront of electric car drive, transmission and control systems where advanced electronic controls plays an increasingly crucial part of the entire system. Low-cost, compact, efficient and modular electronics are critical design parameters for this rapidly growing segment of the automotive industry and Arrow Technical are proud to play their part in its development.

 

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New application discovered for LED’s… to help see through flames!

Usually seeing through the flames of a fire is nearly impossible, which poses a big challenge for firefighters and the manufacturers of building materials. It’s interesting to discover that researchers have now uncovered a way to see through the flames produced by a fire with just two readily available pieces of equipment. These are a Camera fitted with an optical filter and a light source which emits a blue light using LED’s (Light emitting diodes). So, Good news for LED Circuit Design enthusiasts.

The task given to the researchers was to understand how a fire destroys a structure, these tests were run in their own laboratory and on test buildings. Previously, measurements were taken before and after the fire, furthermore following the fire a model would be produced by them showing how the fire progressed to achieve the measurement taken after the fire. The problem which the researchers found with this approach is that a high degree of guess work was involved during the duration of the fire where they simply couldn’t see what was going on beyond the flames. It is critical to know how and exactly when certain items are destroyed by a fire.

Another problem faced by the researchers was that most tools and sensors do not work reliably when subject to extreme heat, even at a distance. Also a camera alone with an optical filter to provide an image of the fire was still unclear and mainly drowned out by flames and created an overwhelmingly red theme. So, the image was pretty useless for the objectives of the researchers which was to see inside the fire in real-time.

This is where the blue light source comes into play, Blue lights have previously been used to view hot materials but never in this extreme application. Researchers discovered that whilst illuminating the fire with these powerful LED’s and recording at the same time with the camera they could actually see beyond, through the flames. This has proved to be a ground breaking discovery and now is being used to determine how building materials are affected by the flames.

Here at Arrow Technical we regularly work with LED’s in numerous lighting applications from LED Circuit Design to various electronic volume manufacturing solutions which incorporate the use of lighting LED’s. So, it is eye opening to see the various other applications in which they can potentially be used. We will be keen to follow how this technology could be formed to potentially aid our fire services.   We have already designed other products for advanced firefighting such as head-up displays, breathing monitoring to prevent hyperventilation and advanced inertial guidance systems to lead fire crews through environments when traditional compass and GPS instruments will not work. Please view our Services page to see if we could be of any assistance.

 

Graphic created by N. Hanacek/NIST based on a concept by M. Hoehler/NIST  Read more here…

 

 

 

 

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We are so much more than just an electronic design house!

We are so much more than just an electronic design house!

Many people know Arrow Technical as just an Electronic Design company, being a designer of advanced new electronic products, but we are so much more than simply that. As well as designing new products we also manufacture them in-house and all under one roof. And, it doesn’t stop there.  Many times we are required to design products which interface by wire or wirelessly to other systems located either locally or remotely.  We are regularly asked to develop and supply the entire system at both ends so it’s a single point of contact to get the whole job specified and done.

In this respect, we do PC and mobile phone apps.  We also design and supply advanced PLC based control panels (and simple ones) and write advanced industrial control and monitoring software to run on them, e.g.

  • Connection to SCADA – no problem
  • Connection to remote servers and platforms – no problem
  • IoT based products and Cloud services to interface to them – no problem.
  • Battery power – no problem
  • High power, even very high power – no problem

Go to our service page and see the full range of services we provide to our clients.  You might be surprised with the range of services we can offer.

We have had over 20 years developing class leading solutions for industry, science, medicine, military and the home.  We have a huge library of functions and features we can put together to define a new product for a specific market, quickly, reliably and very cost effectively.  If its electronic and you need it, we have probably already done it before, or something very similar.

Give us a call and don’t hesitate to get in contact.  Get in touch if you would like to learn more on our Contact us page.

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A.I. to assist in diagnosis of patients!

With the world of Healthcare forever growing it can often be hard to judge what the future holds within the industry. so it is eye opening when you can get an insight into what the future does behold. The rise and development of AI (Artificial intelligence) means that new technologies are being incorporated within machines. Artificial intelligence describes the intelligence demonstrated by the machines in comparison with natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals. This is determined with Artificial intelligence Research and measured by monitoring how a device perceives its environment and takes precise actions to maximise the chance of achieving goals. Artificial intelligence can also describe how a machine or device mimics the cognitive functions displayed within the human mind whilst undertaking tasks such as learning and problem solving.

A subscription health care service provider who enables users to engage in a virtual consultation with a Doctor or Health care professional have undergone recent studies. These suggest that the AI used on their mobile application is able to diagnose medical conditions just as accurately as a doctor would of. This service makes use of a chatbot which users interact with and then the bot uses a complex algorithm which interprets a patients symptoms to conclude with a medical diagnosis.

This innovation within the Medical Product Design industry could potentially save time and resources within our medical system, removing the element of waiting for patients and freeing up valuable man hours for Doctors surgeries. Also, injecting more opportunities for development and application of Artificial intelligence within the Medical Industry to entrepreneurs. Here at Arrow we have had our hands within Medical electronics Manufacturing and Medical Product Design. So, it will be interesting to see if we can become a component in the innovation process of Artificial intelligence and help other companies develop their own ideas and products compromising the use of this to help improve our Medical systems for the better.

With the arrival of increasingly powerful micro controllers at very affordable prices, at Arrow Technical we can embed Artificial intelligence techniques into increasingly capable products.  Combined with IoT technology, in applications where we cannot put the required intelligence locally on the board we can upload data wirelessly to a cloud based Artificial intelligence engine which then downloads the results back to the local processor (rather like how Siri works on Apple iPhones).  This just forms a small part of our advanced electronic product development service which not only serves medical markets but also applies to scientific, automotive, industrial and consumer electronic devices as well.  To learn more, please get in touch.

Read more here…

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Internet of Things (IoT) Gaining Momentum in the Home

The Internet of Things (IoT) is reaching the home and the market opportunities are growing exponentially.

According to market research by The Financial Times, we are demanding and buying increasingly smart, internet aware products in our homes.  This is what is meant by “The Internet Of Things”. The graph below shows the anticipated almost exponential growth for this type of technology over the next few years. If global growth meets forecast, by 2020 the market will be worth over $0.5Bn rising to £3.22Bn by 2025.

The products fuelling most of this growth will be consumer electronic devices which make life more convenient for us and many open the door to cloud based services and give access to features in the home from a mobile phone based anywhere in the world with internet access.  Increasingly, cloud based services are where the value added is gained but cannot operate without tech products in the home.

Smart lighting systems and heating / climate control makes up another large group of automation products which we want to fit in our homes improving comfort, economy and increasingly eco-awareness. Reducing our carbon footprint at home is becoming another of the reasons to automate.

Safety and security devices are becoming ever more popular where they integrate with a cloud based service to keep home owners informed if things go wrong or need urgent attention.

All this is extremely good news for those in the electronics product development industry. As home owners in the developed world want to harness the power of the internet in their homes they will need equipment to allow them to do so. Prices for such products vary from £40 and upwards for devices such as the Echo dot to well over £1000 pounds for an internet aware fridge for instance. Its expected that every household will soon start to have at least one such device if not several installed. In the UK there are 25million households alone. In the USA there are 126 million. Across Europe there are over 200 million. In Asia, the available technology is catching up fast and the potential market is huge.

All this opportunity requires low cost and reliable electronic technology and Arrow Technical have been at the forefront of developing electronic products which are  internet aware for many years. We provide turnkey solutions from bespoke electronics through to cloud based solutions and smart phone apps which integrate together to provide a well-tuned, harmonious system of hardware and software which deploy such technology in the market enabling repetitive revenue streams to be accessed. Low initial acquisition cost and low on-cost to the user is what will access the high volume market potential and high profits that this new technology wave will bring. Smart stylish products which enhance the home, small size, wirelessly connected and battery powered are all individual design requirements and skills we provide at Arrow Technical. We design and manufacture all such products from our base in Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Park.

Get in touch if you have an product idea which you would like to discuss with us.

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New Technology emerges from Apple to reduce tech-induced distractions!

New Technology emerges from Apple to reduce tech-induced distractions! 

As Product Development Consultancy its nice to see new technology has been announced from Apple Inc. with a new range of features aiding users to monitor their own Mobile device. This new feature will be featured as a part of the forthcoming IOS 12 Software. It will compromise of a weekly report that shows users in which areas they are most using their devices. This data will then help the user to identify in what ways their mobile device is most distracting them. As Product Development consultants Arrow Technical regularly monitor the inspiring ongoing developments at Apple to ensure the technology we develop is in tune to the leading market trends.

Apple have also enabled the feature to send out reports to any parents’ phone from their children’s and to set time constraints on application usage. With Mobile devices being such a big part of today’s society it has been recognised that usage can affect the mental health of users, particularly children. Here at Arrow we work within the Medical Product design industry amongst others so we know just how much of an impact this simple yet effective innovation could have.

More features include a new updated Do not Disturb feature, a new bedtime mode which will enable user to dim their screen and hide notifications until morning. As well as new group calling capabilities on Face time for up to 32 people.

It’s great to see Apple offering innovative products with the consumer’s mental health at the forecourt. With most of society being geared towards a features arms-race, offering technology which trumps other mobile device manufacturers, the actual long term health effects of extensively using their products for the consumer can often be overlooked. You can’t change what has happened, you can only control how you react in future.

We support these kind of considerations in advanced product developments.  It’s in tune with Arrow Technical’s inherent design philosophy that technology should work in harmony with the human race and make us better people and not be worse off for the experience.

Read More here…

http://www.itv.com/news/2018-06-04/apple-announces-new-digital-health-tools-to-reduce-tech-distractions/

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