Research assistant enrols as post-graduate student

Having worked as a research assistant with HPI since July 2009, Ms. Vasanta Chaganti has now enrolled at the Australian National University as a Research Masters post-graduate student, in Telecommunications. Ms. Chaganti is currently developing new time-variable models of radio channels for the human body.

Welcome 2009-10 Summer Scholars

Yesterday the NICTA summer scholars arrived at the Canberra Research Lab. For HPI, we have 6 scholars working on several projects. Inertial measurement, user interface design, 3D-radio models and (of course) the Foosball project are all up and running. Information about the projects can be found at the ANU site.

Of course, for now everyone is just finding their feet, more info soon.

TI releases wireless programmable watch with accelerometer

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.

TI has 433MHz, 868MHz and 915MHz wireless versions, scheduled for release during the next 2 months.

More from the press release, or just look at Engadget

David Crawford Review of Australian Sport

The Independent Sport Panel has released its findings (aka. the Crawford Report) as of 17-nov. A number of people have passed comment on the review findings. ABC sports review broke the story along with several other Australian media outlets. Keane Wheeler of University of Canberra provided comments and some links early on, and Keith Lyons provides a quite comprehensive listing of responses to the report.

More info after the jump.

Summer scholars, robot foosball

In the next two to three weeks, the summer scholars arrive at NICTA, Canberra Lab. We have a number of projects running, including channel analysis, sporting performance analysis and user interface design. We also have a large project (4 students) designing a robot Foosball player. This will be an annual project, with next years' students adding to the result from this year. The table arrived a few days ago - so excitement is starting to build....

Welcome: Dr. Tharaka Lamahewa

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.

Dr. Lamahewa will be working on the wireless component of HPI, and brings with him substantial experience in information theory, wireless channel models and low-power sensor systems.

Find out more.

Talking shop: network interference

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.

This is partly because sleep is a big part of most people's everyday lives, but also (specifically why Leif) because if the project leader won't do it, it's hard to convince other volunteers.

The details of the presentation are here