First came the joystick. Then came the motion-sensing Wii remote. What´s next? Sensors and mobiles are opening up a new world: thought control.
Co-founded by Allan Snyder, a neuroscientist and former University of Cambridge research fellow, Emotiv says its EPOC headset features 16 sensors that push against the player’s scalp to measure electrical activity in the brain – a process known as electro-encephalography. In theory, this allows the player to spin, push, pull, and lift objects on a computer monitor, simply by thinking. “There will be a convergence of gesture-based technology and the brain as a new interface – the Holy Grail is the mind” says Snyder.
Last month the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), an arm of the US Defence Department, said it had awarded a $6.7 million contract to Northrop Grumman to develop “brainwave binoculars”. The binoculars use scalp-mounted sensors to detect objects the user might have seen but not noticed – in other words, the computer is used as a kind of brain-aid, giving the user superhuman vision.
Explaining the technology, Dr Robert Shin, an assistant professor of neurology and ophthalmology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said: “There is a level where the brain can identify things before it ever makes it to the conscious level. Your brain says, ‘it may be something’, but it might not realize that it is something that should rise to the conscious level.”
Another defence contractor, Honeywell, has been working on a similar technology known as “augmented cognition” to help intelligence analysts to operate more effectively. Based on the same principle as the binoculars, it has been shown to make analysts work up to seven times faster. It can also detect when they are getting tired. In other tests, soldiers have been kitted out with headsets that detect “brain overload”, allowing commanders to know if they can process new information under the extreme pressures of the battlefield.
One step beyond the platform is adding other components. What do you create when your motto is “Computing stuff tied to the physical world?” A tiny, fairly well featured kit with wireless capability. The JeeNode wireless communication platform.
It looks like a fun and cost effective way to get into experimenting with RF communication. By combining an Arduino-compatible processor (ATmega328) with a low-cost HopeRF radio module, Jean-Claude Wippler in a town called Houten, The Netherlands, creates these building blocks and offering them for sale as a kit, or, since it is an open source hardware design, you can just download the PCB layout and roll your own. You can think of lots of applications (remote candle lighter, interactive cat toy:)) that aren’t worth a full xBee-based solution, where it would be handy to have a development board like this that I could just drop in and use.
Jee Labs also has a weblog with daily news about projects being worked on in the fascinating world of physical computing, wireless comm’s, sensors, lights, switches, motors, robots, WSN’s, Arduino’s, you name it.
For a wireless sensor network you need a platform to start with. But what? Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.
Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone or they can communicate with software on running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).
The boards can be built by hand or purchased preassembled. The software can be downloaded for free. The hardware reference designs (CAD files) are available under an open-source license, you are free to adapt them to your needs.
Last theory on Wireless Sensor Networks coming up. What about the software, middleware and programming languages?
Software
Energy is the scarcest resource of WSN nodes, and it determines the lifetime of WSNs. WSNs are meant to be deployed in large numbers in various environments, including remote and hostile regions, with ad-hoc communications as key. For this reason, algorithms and protocols need to address the following issues:
Lifetime maximization
Robustness and fault tolerance
Self-configuration
Middleware
There is considerable research effort currently invested in the design of middleware for WSN’s. In general approaches can be classified into distributed database, mobile agents, and event-based.
Programming languages
Programming the sensor nodes is difficult when compared with normal computer systems. The resource constrained nature of these nodes gives rise to new programming models although most nodes are currently programmed in C.
What standards, hardware and operating systems are used for wireless sensor networks? There are three. I wrote some articles about ZigBee. It´s a proprietary mesh-networking specification intended for uses such as embedded sensing, medical data collection and home automation. WirelessHART is specifically designed for Industrial applications. 6LoWPAN is the IETF standards track specification. Also relevant to sensor networks is the emerging IEEE 1451 which attempts to create standards for the smart sensor market. The main point of smart sensors is to move the processing intelligence closer to the sensing device.
Hardware
The main challenge is to produce low cost and tiny sensor nodes. With respect to these objectives, current sensor nodes are mainly prototypes. Miniaturization and low cost are understood to follow from recent and future progress. Some of the existing sensor nodes are given below. Some of the nodes are still in research stage. Also inherent to sensor network adoption is the availability of a very low power method for acquiring sensor data wirelessly.
Operating systems
Operating systems for wireless sensor network nodes are typically less complex than general-purpose operating systems both because of the special requirements of sensor network applications and because of the resource constraints in sensor network hardware platforms. Wireless sensor network hardware is not different from traditional embedded systems and it is therefore possible to use embedded operating systems such as eCos or uC/OS for sensor networks. However, such operating systems are often designed with real-time properties. Unlike traditional embedded operating systems, however, operating systems specifically targeting sensor networks often do not have real-time support.
TinyOS is perhaps the first operating system specifically designed for wireless sensor networks. Unlike most other operating systems, TinyOS is based on an event-driven programming model instead of multithreading. TinyOS programs are composed into event handlers and tasks with run to completion-semantics. When an external event occurs, such as an incoming data packet or a sensor reading, TinyOS calls the appropriate event handler to handle the event. Event handlers can post tasks that are scheduled by the TinyOS kernel some time later. Both the TinyOS system and programs written for TinyOS are written in a special programming language called nesC which is an extension to the C programming language.
There are also operating systems that allow programming in C. Examples of such operating systems include Contiki, MANTIS, BTnut, SOS and Nano-RK. LiteOS is a newly developed OS for wireless sensor networks, which provides UNIX like abstraction and support for C programming language.
Experts say nearly 2 million hospital-acquired infections occur each year, resulting in about 5,000 deaths and more than 90,000 illnesses in the US. Research shows that simple hand washing by medical staff could cut the number of infections in half. But what if your rushing to the next patient? There is now a wireless, credit-card-sized sensor that can detect whether health care workers have properly washed their hands upon entering a patient’s room.
The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center was chosen as a study site because of its higher-than-average rate of hand hygiene compliance, nearly twice the national average. The sensor is worn like a name badge and is programmed to detect the presence of ethyl alcohol, the most common ingredient in hand cleansing solutions used in hospitals.
When a health care worker enters a patient’s room, a small, wall-mounted sensor sends a signal to the badge to check for the presence of alcohol. The worker places their hands near the badge to obtain a reading. Lights on the badge glow red if no alcohol is present, indicating the need to wash hands. A green light indicates alcohol is present.
“Health care workers don’t deliberately avoid washing their hands; they get distracted or are so busy moving from one thing to the next they don’t remember to do it,” said Mike Edmond, M.D., chief hospital epidemiologist. “Until now, the only way we’ve been able to track hand washing habits is through direct observation. This new system continuously monitors and records data and serves as a constant reminder.”
The hand hygiene program is part of an aggressive environmental and patient safety campaign at the VCU Medical Center called Safety First, Every Day. The goal of the campaign is to make the medical center the safest health care institution in the country with no events of preventable harm to patients, employees and visitors. The device was developed by BioVigil, LLC.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed to allocate radiofrequency spectrum and establish service and technical rules for the operation of Medical Body Area Network (MBAN) systems. Why is the FCC interested in this area? They envision that MBANs would provide a platform for the wireless networking of multiple body sensors used for monitoring a patient’s physiological data, primarily in health care facilities.
MBAN’s could be used to monitor an array of physiological data, such as temperature, pulse, blood glucose level, blood pressure, respiratory function and a variety of other physiological metrics. MBAN systems would primarily be used in health care facilities, with the potential also of being used in other patient care/monitoring circumstances. Unlike traditional medical telemetry systems which rely on separate uncoordinated links for each physiological function being monitored, MBAN systems could serve to wirelessly monitor all of the desired data of a single patient, which could then be aggregated and wirelessly transmitted to a remote location for evaluation.
Using MBAN systems to eliminate much of the wired cables that typically connect patients to monitoring equipment and to facilitate the aggregation and transfer of physiological data will offer several clinical benefits, including improved patient mobility and comfort, reduced risks of infection, reduced clinical errors, and reduced patient monitoring costs.
The Notice of the FCC seeks comment on options for accommodating MBAN operations in several frequency bands, and on the amount of spectrum that should be allocated for such use. More specifically, the Notice seeks comment on the feasibility of using the 2360-2400 MHz; 2300-2305 MHz and 2395-2400 MHz; the 2400-2483.5 MHz; or 5150-5250 MHz bands for this purpose, and on various licensing schemes that would be appropriate for any of these bands under consideration. In addition, the Notice seeks comment on tentative service and eligibility rules that would be similar in many respects to those for other wireless body-worn and implanted medical devices operating in the MedRadio Service in the 401-406 MHz bands.
This action by the Commission is by Notice of Proposed Rule Making (FCC 09-57).
Sensoring your condition and your balance. Not new so why the mentioning? This one is integrated in a wireless body-area network (WBAN).
Halo Monitoring is a Huntsville, AL based company, that is marketing a wearable monitoring strap that can detect falls. This is one of the leading causes of hospitalization and accident-related deaths among senior citizens. Halo Monitoring is demonstrating its myHalo system at the Healthcare Unbound conference in Seattle this week.
The user wears a washable strap with electrodes embedded in the fabric to measure heart rate, skin temperature, calorie expenditure, sleep patterns and other factors critical to the health of frail, elderly people, and is able to detect whether the wearer has fallen or is simply lying down. It transmits readings via the ZigBee standard for wireless devices, to a home “gateway” that looks like a standard wireless Internet router. The gateway connects via an existing ethernet or a standard phone line to Halo’s monitoring center, which can send immediate web, email and text alerts to concerned caregivers, or, in emergency cases, a call-center operator can contact the caregiver directly or dial 911. “If Mom doesn’t answer the phone, you can log onto our website,” President and CEO Chris Otto says.
Monitoring is automatic, so the user doesn’t have to press a panic button. The Halo system costs $65 to $99 a month, and is currently in use only in the Huntsville area, as well as in Chicago and New Jersey, where the company has marketing partners. Expect a national rollout next year, according to Otto.
People who exercise regularly stay fit, have a lower chance of suffering from chronic ailments and have better mental health overall. How do you maintain your condition when you are becoming of age? Older people value their independence, so for them to continue to be active in society it is essential that they remain fit and mobile. As a consequence, modern geriatric care cannot be complete without a strong focus on physical exercise.
Two days ago, on the Dutch conference Games and Healthcare, I discovered SilverFit. “In our experience, people will exercise more intensely and more effectively when the exercise is fun instead of dull and repetitive” said Joris Wiersinga, director of SilverFit. “We create the fun element by making virtual reality computer games that stimulate exercise”.
Research at MIT in Boston describes three positive effects on patiënts who work with simulations:
The computer simulations stimulate and motivate the patient.
The patient practises more often.
Direct feedback from the simulations speeds up the learning process.
The SilverFit system is very easy for the player to use, always under supervision of a physiotherapist. All of the player’s movements are registered using a 3D camera. The player does not need to hold anything, press anything or use any menus. The camera registers the player’s movements and the game responds to them.
Many games can be played sitting down to exercise the legs, train balance, stretch the arms or practise standing up. At a higher level, the games can be played while standing with support from a walking stick, walker or supported by the physiotherapist. At the highest difficulty level, the games can be used for physical fitness exercises. Based on collected data, the games can be customised for use in the entire course of a rehabilitation plan.
In contrary to the Wii, the exercises and functionality are targeted to rehabilitation and physical therapy for the elderly. The system has seven games. These games can be played at several difficulty levels, leading to dozens of different game play experiences. Variations in individual therapy, group therapy or group activity are optional. SilverFit is an state of the art virtual training system and it’s price falls in the same price range as professional treadmills and other ‘traditional’ physical therapy equipment.
Some say WiFi is on it’s way to become the new wireless standard. But what if you want to go online and there isn’t a hotspot? Every building has running water, electricity and ventilation. What’s the holdup on universal wireless Internet? The days of free leaking WiFi signals from peoples homes is over, thanks to passwordrequirement.
But imagine if you could get online anywhere you liked, in a taxi, on the beach, in a hotel with disgustingly overpriced Wi-Fi, without messing around with cellular modems. What if you had a personal Wi-Fi bubble, a private hot spot, that followed you everywhere you go?
There is such a thing. It’s the Novatel MiFi 2200, available from Verizon starting in mid-May American release. It’s like a thick credit card. It has one power button, one status light and a swappable battery that looks like the one in a cellphone. When you turn on your MiFi and wait 30 seconds, it provides a personal, portable, powerful, password-protected wireless hot spot.
Based on Novatel technology, this personal WiFi hot spot sounds like a great option for grabbing some broadband on the go. It contains 802.11 a/b/g and EVDO Rev. A radios. You’ll supposedly get 4 hours of battery life in operation and Verizon says it has up to 40 hours of standby time. There’s also a feature that shuts the card down after a period of time to save on battery life.
It comes with a timely contract depending on your usage. In essence, the MiFi converts that cellular Internet signal into an umbrella of Wi-Fi coverage that up to five people can share. The MiFi is remarkable for its tiny size, its sleek good looks, its 30-foot range (it easily filled a large airport gate area with four-bar signal) and the fact that it’s cordless and rechargeable.
From now on you’re spared the plug-and-unplug ritual of cellular modems. You can leave the MiFi in your pocket, purse or laptop bag; whenever you fire up your laptop, netbook, Wi-Fi camera or game gadget, or wake up your iPhone or iPod Touch, you’re online.
Co-founded by Allan Snyder, a neuroscientist and former University of Cambridge research fellow, Emotiv says its EPOC headset features 16 sensors that push against the player’s scalp to measure electrical activity in the brain – a process known as electro-encephalography. In theory, this allows the player to spin, push, pull, and lift objects on a computer monitor, simply by thinking. “There will be a convergence of gesture-based technology and the brain as a new interface – the Holy Grail is the mind” says Snyder.
It looks like a fun and cost effective way to get into experimenting with RF communication. By combining an Arduino-compatible processor (ATmega328) with a low-cost 
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Hardware
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MBAN’s could be used to monitor an array of physiological data, such as temperature, pulse, blood glucose level, blood pressure, respiratory function and a variety of other physiological metrics. MBAN systems would primarily be used in health care facilities, with the potential also of being used in other patient care/monitoring circumstances. Unlike traditional medical telemetry systems which rely on separate uncoordinated links for each physiological function being monitored, MBAN systems could serve to wirelessly monitor all of the desired data of a single patient, which could then be aggregated and wirelessly transmitted to a remote location for evaluation.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://i0.wp.com/img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png)
Halo Monitoring is
Mobile WellBeing 