Wearable Devices and their Implementation in Various Domains DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86066

With the emergence of growth in various technologies, it is predicted that soon about 50 billion new devices will be added world-wide. This raises two major issues: a huge amount of data and heterogeneous devices with severe integration issues. These concerns remain when referring to wearable technology. Typical wearable body sensor networks consist of tiny, smart, low-power and self-organized sensors to observe physiological signals of a human body. Standardization, compliance, effective coexistence and interoperability among multiple technologies are required to ensure end-to-end network routing and connectivity among wearables and external devices. M. Alam et al. [4] review multi-standard and multiple technologies based wearable wireless for inter-device communication. Coexistence and inter-operability are challenges discussed along with utilization of possible technologies for on-body, body-to-body and off-body communications. It explores several schemes to ensure effective coexist among multiple technologies and issues related

In this chapter, we describe the architecture and its operation in several domains, one implementation per domain. Lauren Kolodzey et al. [1] reviewed 614 articles aiming to provide an objective overview of the literature about the use of wearable technology in clinical and simulated surgery. They found that applications of wearable technology mainly focused on improving the safety and efficiency of intraoperative processes. The associated applications were wide-ranging and designed for use by a variety of care providers, thereby reflecting the

interconnected relationship between intraoperative safety and the entire healthcare team. It suggests that wearable devices resolve certain human factors that negatively influence performance and safety in the operating room. For example, a display of patient variables to mitigate conflicts associated with patient care tasks and the distracting operative environment. It recommended the use of a variety of wearable devices, such as special glass for its lightweight construction, user-friendly interface and potentially for hands-free control, special camera for capturing

The rest of this chapter is composed as follows. In Section 2, we describe the platform and technology components used for developing and implementing wearable-based systems. In Section 3, we outline wearables in the healthcare domain, which is the most advanced domain and with the highest number of production implementations. In Section 4, we review several wearable

implementations in several domains, such as agriculture, cconstruction and others. In Section 5, we describe in detail our original implementation of a wearable-based system assisting visually impaired people in safety walking through and avoiding obstacles. At Section 6, we conclude and outline potential directions for further

S. Park et al. [2, 3] explore advanced wearables and accordingly recommend guidelines for successful development and deployment of comprehensive wearable systems. Among these are the use of a variety of sensors, each sensor should be

Sensors are needed for capturing various aspects and parameters to be handled simultaneously [4], such as vital signs sensors working at the same time and having

2.1 Variety of sensor types and flexible, effective and practical sensors

to interoperability.

Wearable Devices - The Big Wave of Innovation

precise anatomical details.

advancements in this subject.

2. Technology enablers

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flexible, adaptive, effective and reliable.

multiple sensor types: heart rate, body temperature, pulse oximetry, blood glucose level of different types, the number of sensors may change to capture the signals required to compute a single parameter. In some cases, it may require placing the sensors is specific locations, for example, electrocardiography for recording the electrical activity of the heart where the sensors are placed in three locations on the body. In addition, sensors should be easy for attachment and removal, or for plugging and playing, as sensors may be used at different times and changing requirements. In most cases, parallel processing is required. For example, a pilot during a flight-simulation wants to analyze his overall body reaction during the simulation action. This requires placement of several sensor types, changing locations and types during the simulation. Practically, sensors should be low cost, lightweight, adaptable to the wearer body, distributed power supply and data communication among sensors and processes in the wearable network.

The concept of packaging and fabrication technologies has been widely used and keeps improving with new various materials [5]. These developments enable embedding sensors, such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, camera, motion sensing, physiological and biochemical sensing, into a rigid and flexible platform, adding capabilities to wearable devices. Mobile devices have been integrated with wireless communication technology. The constant growth of broadband wireless networks opens a new era for wearable devices and sensors to continuously monitor the health of patients remotely.
