Wearable and mobile devices

Information and Communication Technologies, known as ICT, have undergone dramatic changes in the last 25 years. The 1980s was the decade of the Personal Computer (PC), which brought computing into the home and, in an educational setting, into the classroom. The 1990s gave us the World Wide Web (the Web), building on the infrastructure of the Internet, which has revolutionized the availability and delivery of information. In the midst of this information revolution, we are now confronted with a third wave of novel technologies (i.e., mobile and wearable computing), where computing devices already are becoming small enough so that we can carry them around at all times, and, in addition, they have the ability to interact with devices embedded in the environment. The development of wearable technology is perhaps a logical product of the convergence between the miniaturization of microchips (nanotechnology) and an increasing interest in pervasive computing, where mobility is the main objective. The miniaturization of computers is largely due to the decreasing size of semiconductors and switches; molecular manufacturing will allow for “not only molecular-scale switches but also nanoscale motors, pumps, pipes, machinery that could mimic skin” (Page, 2003, p. 2). This shift in the size of computers has obvious implications for the human-computer interaction introducing the next generation of interfaces. Neil Gershenfeld, the director of the Media Lab’s Physics and Media Group, argues, “The world is becoming the interface. Computers as distinguishable devices will disappear as the objects themselves become the means we use to interact with both the physical and the virtual worlds” (Page, 2003, p. 3). Ultimately, this will lead to a move away from desktop user interfaces and toward mobile interfaces and pervasive computing

Evaluating the development of wearable devices, personal data assistants and the use of other mobile devices in further and higher education institutions

This report presents technical evaluation and case studies of the use of wearable and mobile computing mobile devices in further and higher education. The first section provides technical evaluation of the current state of the art in wearable and mobile technologies and reviews several innovative wearable products that have been developed in recent years. The second section examines three scenarios for further and higher education where wearable and mobile devices are currently being used. The three scenarios include: (i) the delivery of lectures over mobile devices, (ii) the augmentation of the physical campus with a virtual and mobile component, and (iii) the use of PDAs and mobile devices in field studies. The first scenario explores the use of web lectures including an evaluation of IBM's Web Lecture Services and 3Com's learning assistant. The second scenario explores models for a campus without walls evaluating the Handsprings to Learning projects at East Carolina University and ActiveCampus at the University of California San Diego . The third scenario explores the use of wearable and mobile devices for field trips examining San Francisco Exploratorium's tool for capturing museum visits and the Cybertracker field computer. The third section of the report explores the uses and purposes for wearable and mobile devices in tertiary education, identifying key trends and issues to be considered when piloting the use of these devices in educational contexts

A Review of Wireless Body Area Networks for Medical Applications

Recent advances in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, integrated circuits, and wireless communication have allowed the realization of Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). WBANs promise unobtrusive ambulatory health monitoring for a long period of time and provide real-time updates of the patient's status to the physician. They are widely used for ubiquitous healthcare, entertainment, and military applications. This paper reviews the key aspects of WBANs for numerous applications. We present a WBAN infrastructure that provides solutions to on-demand, emergency, and normal traffic. We further discuss in-body antenna design and low-power MAC protocol for WBAN. In addition, we briefly outline some of the WBAN applications with examples. Our discussion realizes a need for new power-efficient solutions towards in-body and on-body sensor networks.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, and 3 tables. In V3, the manuscript is converted to LaTe

Path Loss Analysis on Biomedical Monitoring System

Path Loss Analysis on Biomedical Monitoring System is an analysis to observe the path loss on interactive real-time wireless communication system that monitor signal from human body. Using sensors and wireless networking, health status of a person can be monitored. Tiny wireless sensor that placed on the human body can be used to create a wireless body area network (WBAN). Wearable system for health monitoring is the key technology to help the transition to be more effective healthcare. This will allow patient to closely monitor the changes in their vital signs and provide feedback to help maintaining at optimal health status. This system can integrated into a telemedical system, to alert medical personnel when life-threatening changes occur. However, wireless communication has its own problem in term of path loss depending on the environment. In addition, human body is one of the environments with high path losses because of wave absorption from the tissues and muscle

Wearable feedback systems for rehabilitation

In this paper we describe LiveNet, a flexible wearable platform intended for long-term ambulatory health monitoring with real-time data streaming and context classification. Based on the MIT Wearable Computing Group's distributed mobile system architecture, LiveNet is a stable, accessible system that combines inexpensive, commodity hardware; a flexible sensor/peripheral interconnection bus; and a powerful, light-weight distributed sensing, classification, and inter-process communications software architecture to facilitate the development of distributed real-time multi-modal and context-aware applications. LiveNet is able to continuously monitor a wide range of physiological signals together with the user's activity and context, to develop a personalized, data-rich health profile of a user over time. We demonstrate the power and functionality of this platform by describing a number of health monitoring applications using the LiveNet system in a variety of clinical studies that are underway. Initial evaluations of these pilot experiments demonstrate the potential of using the LiveNet system for real-world applications in rehabilitation medicine

The memory glasses : wearable computing for just-in-time memory support

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-181).This thesis documents a body of wearable computing research surrounding the development of the Memory Glasses, a new type of proactive memory support technology. The Memory Glasses combines features of existing memory support technologies (such as PDAs) with a context aware delivery system and a low-attention cuing interface. The goal of the Memory Glasses is to provide effective just-in-time memory support while mitigating some of the distraction and over-reliance problems that can result from the use of more conventional memory support technology. The Memory Glasses research is a synthesis of the author's six years of work on wearable computing. This thesis documents the author's intellectual contributions in the areas of wearable computing hardware architectures, software architectures, and human-computer interaction. Specific topics include the MIThril wearable computing research platform, the Enchantment middlewear, the MIThril Real-Time Context Engine, the author's modified Seven Stages of Action model and five principles of low-attention wearable human computer interaction, as well as the author's research in the use of subliminal cuing for just-in-time memory support. Although memory support is the unifying theme of this dissertation, the author's research has seen application in a number of other areas, including the mapping of social networks, research in human physiology and biomedical applications, and group situation awareness and command, control, and communications. A selection of these applications is briefly presented as support for the importance of the author's intellectual contributions.by Richard W. DeVaul.Ph.D

InSight2: An Interactive Web Based Platform for Modeling and Analysis of Large Scale Argus Network Flow Data

Monitoring systems are paramount to the proactive detection and mitigation of problems in computer networks related to performance and security. Degraded performance and compromised end-nodes can cost computer networks downtime, data loss and reputation. InSight2 is a platform that models, analyzes and visualizes large scale Argus network flow data using up-to-date geographical data, organizational information, and emerging threats. It is engineered to meet the needs of network administrators with flexibility and modularity in mind. Scalability is ensured by devising multi-core processing by implementing robust software architecture. Extendibility is achieved by enabling the end user to enrich flow records using additional user provided databases. Deployment is streamlined by providing an automated installation script. State-of-the-art visualizations are devised and presented in a secure, user friendly web interface giving greater insight about the network to the end user

Wearable health monitor to aid Parkinson's disease treatment

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 31).by Joshua A. Weaver.S.M