The challenge
Re-Time engaged Tekt as ultra-low-power Bluetooth specialists on a product that was struggling — a rescue engagement. THIM had persistent bugs, was falling short of commercial robustness and was generating significant support load, with an international sales plan already under way.
What makes the brief more than a bug-fixing exercise is what THIM does. It is not a sleep tracker. It is a treatment device delivering Intensive Sleep Retraining, a protocol developed at Flinders University by Professor Leon Lack. The device deliberately wakes the wearer roughly every three minutes to measure sleep onset latency and build sleep drive. The vibration is the therapy.
That makes vibration timing clinically load-bearing rather than a notification nicety, and it makes the power budget a clinical constraint too. Getting both right, inside a wearable this small and on a battery this small, was the engagement.
The work
Tekt took on the algorithms, the power management, the app integration and the protocol layer — the four places the outstanding issues were living.
Timing and power
The whole electronic solution fits into a single compact wearable package, with everything needed for sensing, timing and notification inside the housing. Because the therapy depends on waking the wearer on schedule across a whole session, the timing had to hold while the power budget stayed inside what a very small battery can supply, so power efficiency in firmware and in hardware was paramount.
The link and the app
The rest of the work was the connection. Tekt reworked the protocol layer between the device and the phone and the app integration on top of it, which is where a large share of the reported faults and the support load had been surfacing.
By the end of the engagement the outstanding issues were resolved, the product was commercially robust, and Re-Time was able to continue with its international sales plans.
About the client
Re-Time Pty Ltd is an Adelaide company, and THIM is built on research from its own city: the Intensive Sleep Retraining protocol developed at Flinders University by Professor Leon Lack. THIM remains on sale at re-timer.com.au/thim.
