11.8 Integrated ultrasonic system for measuring body-fat composition

An accurate, low-power, and highly integrated solution for accurate assessment of body fat is presented that addresses a growing consumer interest in economical and easy-to-use solutions for monitoring personal health and fitness. Unlike the prevalent present solution that estimates body fat percentage from an impedance measurement integrated in a weight scale and gives only a global index with accuracy compromised by a host of factors including skin moisture and metabolic activity, the reported approach uses ultrasound for an accurate measure of the actual thickness of the fat and muscle layers [1].