Multidisciplinary Team Pioneers Novel Application of Wireless Technology
Body-Sensor Network Designed to Help Cyclists Reach Peak Performance
A UT Dallas team’s body-sensor project took center stage this spring in the telecom giant Ericsson’s booth at the world’s leading wireless communications conference – and now spin-off applications are being discussed for war zones, ambulances and burning buildings.
A rider prepares to hit the road on his bike equipped with a wireless body-sensor network.
“That’s what comes of giving free rein to a multidisciplinary team of bright graduate students and faculty,” said Dinesh Bhatia, an associate professor of electrical engineering at the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at UT Dallas and director of the school’s Embedded and Adaptive Computing Group. “As a team we developed some great ideas, did the hardware and software systems integration required, created a very slick user interface and made a big splash at the CTIA wireless conference.”
The centerpiece of what they developed is a bicycle outfitted with a network that employs multiple wireless technologies to monitor the vital signs of an athlete-in-training, and then streams that data (along with GPS information and much more) to the athlete’s coach, who’s able to track the rider’s location and performance, compare the rider’s performance during previous training sessions and deliver information, coaching and other feedback in the rider’s ear through a cellphone connection.
But it’s not just about the technology.
“The user experience was also central to this project,” said Dean Terry, an associate professor of aesthetic studies and director of both Emerging Media and Communication and the University’s MobileLab. “We have extensive experience in presenting information to users and ensuring they have not only what they need but have it in a pleasing and quickly understandable format.”
Rounding out the UT Dallas team of faculty and grad students in electrical engineering and user interface design was Balakrishnan Prabhakaran, an associate professor of computer science – and according to Ericsson’s Mark Murphy the resulting system produces an extremely useful mashup of data.
“They outfitted everything needed to make this happen, including integration of all the biometrics,” said Murphy, an Ericsson solutions architect.
The team’s wireless body-sensor network uses a combination of technology from Ericsson and Texas Instruments, and it operates on very low power, which will be particularly important in some of the spin-off applications under consideration, Dr. Bhatia noted.
An open-ended collaboration, Ericsson effectively said to the UT Dallas team, “Let’s see what you can do with some of the latest wireless technology.”
Imagine being able to wirelessly monitor the vital signs of firefighters, soldiers or recently discharged patients, for example, he said. Or being able to track the condition of – and minute-by-minute treatment provided to – an ambulance patient all the way from accident scene to emergency room. And then being able to wirelessly push all that data into emergency room computers as the ambulance arrives.
Unlike many corporate-university projects, this one was an open-ended collaboration rather than a contract to do x, y or z. Ericsson effectively said, “Let’s see what you can do with some of the latest wireless technology.”
And Dr. Bhatia and Terry expect this to be just the first of a long series of similar close collaborative efforts.
“We think there’s a lot we can do with body-sensor networks, but the bigger picture is that we also see lots of other opportunities out there for us to bring the combined talents of engineers, computer scientists and interface designers to bear on companies’ needs,” Dr. Bhatia said.
“We’re able to operate as a technology development enterprise, a high-tech design studio and a business partner all rolled into one,” Terry added.
