wearable computers

WEARABLE COMPUTERS
Small is beautiful…
ABSTRACT:

Small is beautiful has always been in vogue right from the Charles Babbage’s computational computer to todays’ PDA . Technology has manifestated itself into micro miniature forms with the power and processing speeds compatible to the rather cumbersome titanic counterparts. Complimenting the technical advancements, new vistas have opened, thus expanding the technological horizons. Wearable Computers is one such invention that facilitates us to look through the portals of human computer interaction based on small body worn computer system that is always ON and always ready and accessible. In this regard, the new computational framework differs from that of hand held devices, laptop computers and Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's). The major devices in which the wearable computers have made significant advancement and are now full-fledged devices that can be worn as clothing or accessories are increasing exponentially with respect to time. Novel devices like Aimon Eyetap, Head mount display, Landwarrior, Calculatorwatch and Sight for the blind which stand testimony to the impact of wearable computers are elucidated further into the presentation.
OVERVIEW:

Personal Computers have never quite lived up to their name. There is a limitation to the interaction between a user and a personal computer. Wearable computers break this boundary. As the name suggests these computers are worn on the body like a piece of clothing. Wearable computers have been applied to areas such as behavioral modeling, health monitoring systems, information technologies and media development. Government organizations, military, and health professionals have all incorporated wearable computers into their daily operations. Wearable computers are especially useful for applications that require computational support while the user's hands, voice, eyes or attention are actively engaged with the physical environment.
Since the beginning of time man has fought man. The difference between the 18th century and the 21st century however, is that we are no longer fighting with guns but instead with information. One of the most powerful devices in the past few decades is the computer and the ability to use the information capabilities of such a device have transformed it into a weapon.
Wearable computers have led to an increase in micro-management. Depending on how broadly one defines both wearable and computer, the first wearable computer could be as early as the 1500s with the invention of the pocket watch or even the 1200s with the invention of eyeglasses. The first device that would fit the modern-day image of a wearable computer was constructed in 1961 by the mathematician Edward O. Thorp and Claude E. Shannon, who is best known as "the father of information theory." The system was a concealed cigarette-pack sized analog computer designed to predict roulette wheels.
Wearable computing will now be formally defined in terms of its three basic modes of operation and its six fundamental attributes.

Operational modes of wearable computing
There are three operational modes in this new interaction between human and computer:
• Constancy: The computer runs continuously, and is ``always ready'' to interact with the user. Unlike a hand-held device, laptop computer, or PDA, it does not need to be opened up and turned on prior to use. The signal flow from human to
computer, and computer to human, depicted in Fig 1a runs continuously to provide a constant user--interface.
• Augmentation: Traditional computing paradigms are based on the notion that computing is the primary task. Wearable computing, however, is based on the notion that computing is NOT the primary task. The assumption of wearable computing is that the user will be doing something else at the same time as doing the computing. Thus the computer should serve to augment the intellect, or augment the senses. The signal flow between human and computer is depicted in

Fig 1b.
• Mediation: Unlike hand held devices, laptop computers, and PDAs, the wearable computer can encapsulate us ( Fig 1c). It doesn't necessarily need to completely enclose us, but the concept allows for a greater degree of encapsulation than traditional portable computers. There are two aspects to this encapsulation:
o Solitude: It can function as an information filter, and allow us to block out material we might not wish to experience, whether it be offensive advertising, or simply a desire to replace existing media with different media. In less severe manifestations, it may simply allow us to alter our perception of reality in a very mild sort of way.
o Privacy: Mediation allows us to block or modify information leaving our encapsulated space. In the same way that ordinary clothing prevents others from seeing our naked bodies, the wearable computer may, for example, serve as an intermediary for interacting with untrusted systems, such as third party digital anonymous cash ``cyberwallets''.
Because of its ability to encapsulate us, e.g. in embodiments of wearable computing that are actually articles of clothing in direct contact with our flesh, it may also be able to make measurements of various physiological quantities. Thus the signal flow depicted in
Fig 1a is also enhanced by the encapsulation as depicted in
Fig 1c. To make this signal flow more explicit, Fig 1c has been redrawn, in Fig 1d, where the computer and human are depicted as two separate entities within an optional protective shell, which may be removed or partially removed if a mixture of augmented and mediated interaction is desired.
Wearable computing is a framework for enabling various degrees of each of these three fundamental modes of operation. Collectively, the space of possible signal flows giving rise to this entire space of possibilities, is depicted in

Till now we have seen the technical aspects of the wearable computers, now let us see its application in various devices. These are used in a wide range of devices and of which we will see five.
1. Aimon Eyetap,
2. Head mount display,
3. Landwarrior,
4. Calculatorwatch and
5. Sight for the blind.
LAND WARRIOR:
Land Warrior is a United States Army program that uses a combination of commercial, off-the-shelf technology (COTS) and current-issue military gear and equipment designed to:
• Integrate small arms with high-tech equipment
• Provide communications and command and control at the infantry soldier level
• Look at the individual infantry soldier as a complete unit rather than as a segment of a larger force



While technology has always been a focus of the United States military, very little of it has actually been adopted by the infantry soldier. With growing concerns of urban warfare and dismounted infantry actions, the US Army recognizes the need for individual infantrymen to be better equipped, better informed, and better protected in the 21st century battlefield. The Land Warrior program draws upon many wearable computer concepts, and maximizes existing technologies to correct most infantry soldier limitations in the short term.
CONCLUSION:
To convey the gist of the above discussion in a single word – “ MAVERICK ” – Yes, That’s what it is. Unconventional, contemporary and right wardrobe for tech-savvys.
A wearable computer is a computer that is subsumed into the personal space of the user, controlled by the user, and has both operational and interactional constancy, i.e. is always on and always accessible. Most notably, it is a device that is always with the user, and into which the user can always enter commands and execute a set of such entered commands, and in which the user can do so while walking around or doing other activities.
Wearable Computer technology acts as a gang plank to bridge the chasm between the personal computer and personalized computer thus, combatting the delusions posed by the former.

REFERENCES:
1. http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wearable_computer
3. http://www.wearablecomputing.com/
4. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/2/16523/00762806.pdf
5. http://www.eyetap.org/research/wearables/wearcomp/wearables.html

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Fundamentals of Wearable Computers and Augumented Reality - Woodrow Barfield - WEDT Barfield, TEDT Caudell - 2000 - Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc
2. R Tenmoku, M Kanbara, N Yokoya, H Takemura - … Advanced Computing and Communicating Techniques for Wearable …, 2002 -