Useability
From Capsil Wiki
This section will look at how body sensor networks can be used in peoples everyday lives and operate as unobtrusively as possible. The ideal scenario is that person being monitored does nothing at all extra but goes about his/her daily routine as normal, all the while the sensor network is collecting valuable data. We have a ways to go before these sensors will become truly pervasive in this sense, however we will look at some examples of systems that are advancing this cause and give some details of the design aspects involved.
- Eco: Ultra-Wearable and Expandable Wireless Sensor Platform [1]- Very tiny and flexible sensor developed at University of California capable of being used to monitor physiological data. Being used to assess sports and art perfromances.
- WEALTHY Project - Wearble Healthcare Systems for vital signs monitoiring [2]- This is a European Union funded project (IST-2001-37778) which started in September 2002 and ran for two and a half years. It is one of the pioneering EU projects laying the groundwork research in to fabrication of garments suitable for monitoring of vital signs. It demonstrates how electrics/electronics and textiles can be merged and also demonstrates how robust and useable these materials can be.
- MyHeart Project [3] - The MyHeart project is an Integrated Project, funded by the IST programme of the European Commission's 6th Framework. It started on December 31st, 2003 and ran for 45 months. The MyHeart consortium consists of 33 different partners from 11 countries and was led by Philips. MyHeart aims at fighting Cardio Vascular Disease by preventive lifestyle and early diagnosis. A key element of this work is the continuous measurement of vital signs using sesnor systems embedded into functional cloths.
- Project STELLA - Stretchable Electronics for Large Area Applications [4] - The STELLA project is an EU funded project (IST-028026) with eleven partners in 4 European countries. The project started in January 2006 and wil run until January 2010. It is part of a greater initiative called SHIFT “Smart High Integration Flex Technologies [5]. The STELLA project is concerned with stretchable electronics i.e. printed circuit boards and circuits that can literally be stretched and deformed and still maintain functionality. The STELLA approach is more about traditional electronics being innovated rather that textiles or other wearable materials research.
- CONTEXT Project - Contactless Sensors for Body Monitoring Incorporated in Textiles[6] - The ConText project is an Specific Targeted REsearch Project (STREP), funded by the IST program of the European Commission's 6th Framework. ConText is started on January 1st, 2006, and ran for 30 months. Contact less sensors were developed for the purpose of measuring Electromyography (EMG) and Electrocardiography (ECG) signals. The sensors were integrated into textiles to realise a prototype of a wearable vest.
- OFSETH - Optical Fibre Sesnors Embedded in to technical Textiles for Healthcare monitoring[7] - The OFSETH project is a EU Specific Targeted Research Project (STREP) FP6-IST-2005-027869 that started in March 2006 and runs until end 2009. The aim of OFSETH is to take advantage of pure optical sensing technologies for extending the capabilities of medical technical textiles for wearable health monitoring
