 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Founder | Keith Nothacker |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, US |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | BACtrack S80, BACtrack Mobile, BACtrack S75, BACtrack Element, BACtrack Vio, BACtrack S35, BACtrack Go Keychain. |
| Website | www |
BACtrack is a brand of portable breathalyzers owned by KHN Solutions. [1] [2] It is headquartered in San Francisco, California. [2]
BACtrack was founded by Keith Nothacker in 2001, during his senior year at the University of Pennsylvania, when he began selling consumer products online. [3]
In 2004, BACtrack received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing clearance to sell the AlcoMate CA2000 breathalyzer. [4] BACTrack was among the first companies to sell breathalyzers to the general public for personal use that year. [5]
The BACtrack Mobile Smartphone Breathalyzer is a pocket-size breathalyzer that pairs with smartphones and other smart devices via an app and Bluetooth LE, producing an estimate of blood alcohol content (BAC). Results are displayed on the smart device or smartphone screen. [6] Released on April 23, 2013, the device was the first smartphone-connected breathalyzer available for commercial purchase. [7]
The accuracy of BACtrack Mobile was independently tested and found to be comparable to law enforcement breath alcohol testers. [8] The results of one such study were published in the Journal of Injury Prevention. [8]
The BACtrack Mobile Smartphone Breathalyzer won a Popular Science "Best of What’s New Award" as a breakthrough technology in the Health Category for 2013. [9]
BACtrack Mobile and BACtrack Keychain received Car and Driver's highest rating in an industry-wide comparison in March 2014. [10] [ failed verification ]
In June, 2014, BACtrack released the BACtrack Consumption Report an aggregation of drinking data and alcohol consumption patterns compiled from users of the BACtrack Mobile Smartphone Breathalyzer. [11]
The data were compiled over the course of a year and represent more than 100,000 alcohol tests taken in over 35 countries, and in all 50 US States. Some of the information in the report includes average blood alcohol content by city and state. [12]
BACtrack demonstrated the first smartphone-based remote alcohol monitoring system at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show. [13] BACtrack View uses the front facing camera of an iOS or Android phone to record a user blowing to BACtrack Mobile. The user's BAC result, along with the date, time, and location, are sent in real time to another user for monitoring.
On May 19, 2016, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) announced that BACtrack won first prize in the Wearable Alcohol Biosensor Challenge. [14] The Wearable Alcohol Biosensor Challenge, issued through Challenge.gov in March 2015, called for non-invasive wearable technology that could improve upon existing alcohol biosensor technology used in the criminal justice system. An improved alcohol biosensor could be a valuable resource for the alcohol research community, decreasing reliance on participant self-report in scientific studies.
BACtrack's winning entry, called BACtrack Skyn, is worn on the wrist and measures transdermal alcohol content. Results are transmitted continuously over Bluetooth to a smartphone app. [15] In 2023, an external team of university researchers validated and published open-source code that can be used to model alcohol drinking in research studies using transdermal alcohol data collected from BACtrack Skyn devices. [16]
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limited to 2.5 milliwatts, giving it a very short range of up to 10 metres (33 ft). It employs UHF radio waves in the ISM bands, from 2.402 GHz to 2.48 GHz. It is mainly used as an alternative to wired connections to exchange files between nearby portable devices and connect cell phones and music players with wireless headphones, wireless speakers, HIFI systems, car audio and wireless transmission between TVs and soundbars.
Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes.
A wearable computer, also known as a body-borne computer, is a computing device worn on the body. The definition of 'wearable computer' may be narrow or broad, extending to smartphones or even ordinary wristwatches.
Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be used for the bootstrapping of capable wireless connections. Like other proximity card technologies, NFC is based on inductive coupling between two electromagnetic coils present on a NFC-enabled device such as a smartphone. NFC communicating in one or both directions uses a frequency of 13.56 MHz in the globally available unlicensed radio frequency ISM band, compliant with the ISO/IEC 18000-3 air interface standard at data rates ranging from 106 to 848 kbit/s.
Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage and allow for transmission of data, which can include voice and video transmissions. Mobile computing involves mobile communication, mobile hardware, and mobile software. Communication issues include ad hoc networks and infrastructure networks as well as communication properties, protocols, data formats, and concrete technologies. Hardware includes mobile devices or device components. Mobile software deals with the characteristics and requirements of mobile applications.
A breathalyzer or breathalyser, also called an alcohol meter, is a device for measuring breath alcohol content (BrAC). It is commonly utilized by law enforcement officers whenever they initiate traffic stops. The name is a genericized trademark of the Breathalyzer brand name of instruments developed by inventor Patrick Tegeler in the 1950s.
The mobile web comprises mobile browser-based World Wide Web services accessed from handheld mobile devices, such as smartphones or feature phones, through a mobile or other wireless network.
Proximity marketing is the localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place. Transmissions can be received by individuals in that location who wish to receive them and have the necessary equipment to do so.
0-0-1-3 is an alcohol abuse prevention program developed in 2004 at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base based on research by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism regarding binge drinking in college students. This program was a command-led collaboration between unit leaders, base agencies, and base personnel that utilized a three-tiered approach: (1) identify and assist high risk drinkers; (2) Develop a base culture, supportive of safe and responsible behaviors, including recreational options; and (3) Partnering with the broader community to promote alcohol prevention.
Bluetooth Low Energy is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group aimed at novel applications in the healthcare, fitness, beacons, security, and home entertainment industries. Compared to Classic Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy is intended to provide considerably reduced power consumption and cost while maintaining a similar communication range.
Wearable technology is any technology that is designed to be used while worn. Common types of wearable technology include smartwatches and smartglasses. Wearable electronic devices are often close to or on the surface of the skin, where they detect, analyze, and transmit information such as vital signs, and/or ambient data and which allow in some cases immediate biofeedback to the wearer.
A smartwatch is a portable wearable computer that resembles a wristwatch. Most modern smartwatches are operated via a touchscreen, and rely on mobile apps that run on a connected device in order to provide core functions.
Drunk driving is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash.
Breathometer was a device that claimed to measure someone's blood alcohol content using their iOS and Android smartphones. However, the app proved unreliable, and was shut down by the Federal Trade Commission.
iBeacon is a protocol developed by Apple and introduced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in 2013. Various vendors have since made iBeacon-compatible hardware transmitters – typically called beacons – a class of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices that broadcast their identifier to nearby portable electronic devices. The technology enables smartphones, tablets and other devices to perform actions when in proximity to an iBeacon.
Wireless ambulatory electrocardiography (ECG) is a type of ambulatory electrocardiography with recording devices that use wireless technology, such as Bluetooth and smartphones, for at-home cardiac monitoring (monitoring of heart rhythms). These devices are generally recommended to people who have been previously diagnosed with arrhythmias and want to have them monitored, or for those who have suspected arrhythmias and need to be monitored over an extended period of time in order to be diagnosed.
Hearables or smart headphones or earbuds are electronic in-ear devices designed for multiple purposes. The category is split between hearables for hearing health, and hearables for other applications.
Bluetooth beacons are hardware transmitters — a class of Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) devices that broadcast their identifier to nearby portable electronic devices. The technology enables smartphones, tablets and other devices to perform actions when in close proximity to a beacon.
A coronavirus breathalyzer is a diagnostic medical device enabling the user to test with 90% or greater accuracy the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in an exhaled breath. As of the first half of 2020, the idea of a practical coronavirus breathalyzer was concomitantly developed by unrelated research groups in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, United Kingdom and USA.
Dr. Shalini Prasad is a biological engineer, Cecil H. and Ida Green Professor of Systems Biology Science, and head of the Bioengineering Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. She was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows in February 2022 "for pioneering contributions in engineering sweat wearables for disease tracking and management for chronic diseases and prognostic monitoring in pandemics." Dr. Shalini Prasad has had a number of faculty positions at many universities. She is the co-founder of a small technology company called EnLiSense LLC. And her research consists of developing technology to monitor individuals to benefit the health industry.