Platform
How to choose a wearable for research
By Sameer Sontakey
A research wearable checklist: raw waveform access, export formats, wear-time realities, and battery under study settings. Built for study ops.
Quick answer: pick the wearable that can deliver the signal your analysis needs, under the wear-time and power budget your protocol can sustain. Start with raw waveform, export, wear-time, and battery under study settings.
Start with the analysis, not the brand
A study fails quietly when the device only ever stored someone else's score. If you cannot re-derive features, audit artifact windows, or hand a waveform to a collaborator, you bought a dashboard, not a research instrument.
Write the analysis plan first. Then ask every vendor the same four questions.
Checklist item 1. Raw waveform access
Ask whether optical PPG leaves the device as a waveform you can store, not only as heart rate or a recovery index.
For Sensor Bio programs, raw PPG export includes unfiltered amplitudes for green, infrared, and red channels when those wavelengths are enabled. Timestamps are nanosecond-resolution in the raw download. Green is the default primary channel. Infrared and red appear when configured.
Two operational facts matter before first enrollment:
- Raw PPG is disabled by default in both daytime Passive and overnight Rest Mode. Turn it on for the organization if the protocol needs it.
- Sample rate is configurable per organization at 25, 50, or 100 Hz (default 50 Hz). Pick from the analysis, not from a marketing default.
If your team only needs beat-to-beat intervals and computed metrics, say so explicitly. Do not pay the power and storage cost of raw capture without a use for it.
Checklist item 2. Export that your pipeline can use
Research stacks fail on formats and windows as often as they fail on sensors.
Demand clarity on:
- File formats (Sensor Bio exports CSV and JSON for standard downloads)
- Windows per request (computed metrics: 1-30 days; raw metrics: 1-7 days)
- API access for automation (Sensor Bio REST base URL:
https://api.getsensr.io/v1/) - Mobile paths when the phone is in the loop (iOS and Android SDKs)
- Who is allowed to pull data (Sensor Bio raw/computed downloads require a Super Admin role)
If your warehouse, EDC, or notebook cannot ingest the vendor's default package without a custom reverse-engineering project, keep shopping.
Checklist item 3. Wear-time and adherence
Signal you never capture is missing data, not a rounding error.
Ask how the device and program tooling report:
- Hours worn per day
- Charge and sync gaps
- Dropout after week one
Comfort, strap fit, and charge friction decide whether your n is real. Plan follow-up before the cohort starts. Do not wait for the closeout meeting to discover half the nights are empty.
Checklist item 4. Battery under study settings
Vendors love "up to X days." Protocols love high sample rates and raw export. Those two sentences fight each other.
For Sensor Bio V2, published device comparison figures are:
- Up to 7 days of battery under default settings
- Up to 2 days under max recording settings
- On-device storage about 2.5 days under default settings, about 1.2 hours under max recording settings
Treat those as planning bounds, not promises for every duty cycle. Higher sample rates, raw channels, and continuous capture shorten the week. Put the tradeoff in the protocol and in the participant instructions.
A short decision table
| Question | Consumer black-box stack | Research / infrastructure stack |
|---|---|---|
| Can you store raw PPG? | Often no | Yes, when enabled |
| Who sets sample rate? | Vendor app defaults | Your org profile |
| Export into your warehouse? | Limited or delayed | API, SDK, and batch export |
| Battery quote matches study mode? | Usually not | Ask for default vs max-recording |
Next steps
Use the companion buyer guide on wearables for clinical trials when you are writing an RFP. When partners need the access path for waveforms, see raw PPG access. For profile setup before enrollment, read how to configure a research wearable.
Claims note
Sensor Bio V2 is a general wellness device, not FDA cleared for diagnosis. This checklist is for research and program design. It does not imply diagnostic use or RPM billing eligibility.