Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced the eZ430-Chronos, a customizable development environment within a sports watch. The kit allows developers to easily harness the leading integration, ultra-low power and wireless capabilities of TI's CC430 microcontroller (MCU). It is equipped with sensors for measurement and motion-based control and can serve as a central hub for nearby wireless sensors so that users have remote access to real-time data from devices such as pedometers and heart rate monitors.
Dr. Lamahewa started work with the Human Performance Improvement group in Canberra. Tharaka joins us on secondment from the Australian National University, where he works as a postdoctoral fellow with the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
So we've got the transceivers running and taking measurements, and have measured a significant number of dense networks on the human body -- 20 or more nodes. We'll be presenting some of the preliminary work tomorrow at the Australian National University but for tonight Leif is testing out the impact of sleep on wireless sensor networks.According to IBM and Access Economics, the adoption of smart technologies in health, as well as electricity, irrigation, transport and high-speed broadband, will add more than 70,000 jobs to the Australian economy in 2014 alone.
Meanwhile, National ICT Australia, our world-class ICT research facility and PhD program, is also leading innovation in the e-health field.
One project of particular interest is the Human Performance Monitoring project, which could deliver some serious benefits for the way we understand the human body.
The system uses wearable and implantable devices connected by wireless and backed by smart processors to assess physical performance.
Information such as heart rate and breathing is captured and analysed instantly, helping doctors to identify patterns.
Senator Conroy invited "innovators who understand the transformative potential of digital technologies" to proposals forward.
The "internet of things" has grown to include the first internet-connected (wireless) pacemaker. The device sends updates to a server daily, to give a remote clinician information on the patient's well-being. The original article can be found here and is transposed below. The article suggests that other wireless implants - such as glucose meters for diabetic management - are likely in the near future.With the news that an American woman has received a pacemaker with a wireless connection to the Internet, the so-called “Internet of Things” has taken on a new dimension.
Reuters reported this week that a 61-year-old woman became the first American recipient of the pacemaker, which was approved by the FDA just last month and allows the doctor to monitor how her heart is doing. At least once a day, a server will communicate with the pacemaker over the Internet and get an update. If there is anything unusual, the server can contact the doctor and patient, literally calling the doc on the phone in the middle of the night, if necessary.
The Reuters article quotes the doctor as saying that in the future, wireless devices could monitor high blood pressure, glucose levels or heart failure.
The technology is part of a much broader trend of reaching out to objects in the physical world to bring them into the Internet, so to speak, to build an “Internet of Things.” RFID, short-range wireless technologies and sensor networks are enabling this to happen as they become more commonly used. IPv6, with its greatly expanded address space, allows for many more devices to connect to the Internet.
If all things are connected, all things can be tracked. The earliest applications have centered around tracking shipments in a supply chain, but if the tracking devices are left in objects when they are in use, that could be extremely powerful.
It’s a little scary to think of connecting one’s heart to the Internet. I know the connection is being used in a very narrow way, but if it were at all possible for hackers to tamper with the pacemaker, they probably would, given what we know about what some are capable of.
Human Performance Improvement was in the Canberra Times today, with a wonderful half-page article written by Nyssa Skilton, (photo by Karleen Williams). The technology shown is our sensor glove, which can record motion of the hand. David Rodda (the research engineer, on the right) shown is one of the two engineers who actually did all the hardware development, debugging and coding of the system based on original hand-drawings of the system. That's me foolishly holding the ball on the left.
We'll also be demo-ing the sensor glove - which is a glove with inertial sensors and a bluetooth connection. The work we do with this is related to modeling human movement, and demonstrating the data requirements for raw signal processing: we don't build micro-sensors.
15 million wireless devices will be in use by early 2012 to remotely monitor the well-being of elderly or at-risk people. For the next two years at least, most of these devices will consist of medical devices with cellular technology built-in.and up to 400m, by 2014 -- a mere 2 years later.
[W]earable wireless sensors are set to grow to more than 400 million devices by 2014. Demand will come from professional healthcare, home healthcare and sports and fitness markets, but each market will develop at different speeds and support different applications. The sports and fitness market represents more than 90 percent of the wireless sensor market today.There is a common feel to the ABI report and Brian's discussions, characterized by the Continua Alliance's move to endorse low-power bluetooth and/or ZigBee as the wireless medium of choice for these devices.
Around the world multiple social factors are putting strain on existing healthcare operations, but a new wave of interest and investment in wireless body sensors will help healthcare providers to improve treatment as well as increase efficiency and cut costs. Key to these benefits is the development of wireless sensors to measure important body parameters and communicate the data to remote systems. These developments are examined in a new study from ABI Research.
Bluetooth Low Energy, ZigBee, 802.15.4 and proprietary offerings are all under consideration for wearable wireless sensor systems and the industry is keen to turn to standardized products wherever possible.
