Responsive firmware for Callie & Safepoint’s button-activated safety devices.

Callie is a company founded locally to Coderus in Norwich that provides personal safety solutions that include a wearable button which the user can press if they feel they’re in a vulnerable situation and require assistance due to safety or security worries. 

The company was using an off the shelf bluetooth device but wanted to create the best solution for the Callie brand customers by building a bespoke hardware solution. For this they had an in house electronics design team but no firmware team so Coderus were engaged to partner with them thanks to our extensive experience in firmware development.

Callie wanted a firmware that would match their goals of a super low energy consumption, as the product utilises a non-replaceable or rechargeable battery. The longevity of the device was paramount for multiple reasons: the safety and satisfaction of the user but also cost and sustainability, understanding that replacing the devices more frequently would be detrimental to all these things.

For this project the client already had a hardware design and were looking for a firmware to run on this hardware.

We relied on our extensive knowledge of BLE hardware, linking with both iOS and Android platforms, and knew the best solution to meet the client demands for a long battery life and fast wake-up times. This involved utilising the deep sleep functionality of the chosen chip to ensure the longest battery life possible, especially when the device is not used frequently. Alongside this, we utilised the first button press as a trigger to wake the device up and instantly start broadcasting, allowing the mobile app to discover it as quickly as possible. We communicated directly with the hardware team as well as the app developers for Safepoint throughout the duration of the project to ensure expectations were aligned and direction was clear. 

To ensure Safepoint could secure the relevant certifications for the Callie product, we also assisted in providing them a specific firmware that could be used to assist in the passing of this certification, thanks to the purely power focused standard firmware.

As always with a Coderus project, we utilised the agile methodology to ensure builds were frequently given to the client for their own testing as well as our own internal validations.