Wearable-HOWTO.
Lionel, trollhunter Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery <trollhunter@lin-
uxfr.org>
v0.0.7 March 2000
Nomadism is one of the major trends of our society, now most of the
people can work with a laptop computer, but few did the next step: to
live, or if you prefer to wear one computer that is a wearable.
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks
1.1 GNU Free Documentation Licence.
2. Foreword
3. What is a Wearable anyway ?
4. Advocacy
4.1 Why ?
4.2 The Wearable concept is not a revolution, it is just an evolution.
4.3 The Wearable may give its user an edge.
4.4 The Wearable concept: a stealth menace.
4.5 Wearable computing: an emerging industry.
5. What CPU ?
5.1 PDA based Wearables
5.2 PC/104 and laptop based Wearables.
5.2.1 What is PC/104 ?
5.2.2 What about PC/104-plus ?
5.3 Transmeta's processor the Crusoe.
5.4 Misc
6. Power supply
7. OS.
8. The Sulawesi project.
9. Input
9.1 Variations around the keyboard
9.1.1 Mini keyboards
9.1.2 One hand keyboard.
10. Audio Output
11. Visual Output
11.1 Head Down displays.
11.1.1 Wristwatch type
11.1.1.1 Commercial Solutions.
11.1.1.2 The Wristwatchcomputer.
11.1.2 PDA type
11.2 Head UP displays
11.2.1 Obstrusives displays
11.2.1.1 Hacks with LEDs
11.2.1.2 Sony GLASSTRON
11.2.1.3 The M1
11.2.1.4 The VRD ( Virtual Retinal Display )
11.2.2 Nonobstrusives displays
12. Comms
13. How can I have my Wearable ?
13.1 Commercial Solutions.
13.2 Do it yourself.
14. PalmPilot and its clone ( IBM, HandSpring, TRG ): a new breed of wearables.
14.1 The palm family.
14.2 PDAs runing Linux.
15. How to carry my wearable ?
16. Applications with Wearables.
16.1 In the army now.
16.2 At the hospital
16.3 With the firefighters
16.4 Wearable for the disabled.
17. A borg's life.
18. Sources of Information.
18.1 Non commercial
18.2 Commercial.
18.3 Reading.
19. To do List.
20. Revision History.
21. Thanks and Credits.
______________________________________________________________________
1.
Copyright, Disclaimer and Trademarks
Copyright (C) 1999-2000 by Lionel, trollhunter Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery.
This document may be distributed under the terms set forth in the GNU
Free Documentation Licence http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.txt
<http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.txt> .
This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but without any warranty. The information in this document is correct
to the best of my knowledge, but there's a always a chance I've made
some mistakes, so don't follow everything too blindly, especially if
it seems wrong. Nothing here should have a detrimental effect on your
computer, but just in case I take no responsibility for any damages
ocurred from the use of the information contained herein.
In this document you will encounter some commercial products and
brands. Theses products are cited for information purpose, it is not
an endorsement from the author. The trademarks belong to their
respective owners.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
Invariant Sections being : "Foreword", "What is a Wearable anyway ?",
"Advocacy", "What CPU ?", "Power supply", "Os.", "The Sulawesi
project.", "Input", "Audio Output", "Visual Output", "Comms.", "How
can I have my Wearable ?", "PalmPilot and its clone ( IBM,
HandSpring, TRG ): a new breed of wearables.", "How to carry my
wearable ?", "Applications with Wearables.", "A borg's life.",
"Sources of Information.", "To do List.", "Revision History.", "Thanks
and Credits.",
, with the Front-Cover Texts being "title" and "abstract" , and with
no Back-Cover Texts . A copy of the license is included in the
section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
1.1. GNU Free Documentation Licence.
______________________________________________________________________
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2.
Foreword
I am not a guru in wearable computing, simply after some years using
HP95LX and HP200LX palmtop computers more like wearables than like a
PDA ( thanks to DOS 5, the HP200LX even allowed me to do a semester CS
project using turbo pascal while commuting in the subway ), and
living with a palm IIIx and a laptop running Linux, to me the next
step is having a wearable running Linux, thus I have spent more than a
year reading various informations on wearable and taking a little part
in the wear-hard mailing list. As more an more people will be
interested in the wearable concept I have decided to start this HOWTO
in order to help them ( At the time of this writing I am building my
own wearable using my laptop ( Toshiba 430CDT ) with a twiddler
keyboard, emacspeak, and camcorders batteries. )
Some people may, at least, be surprised to find the "In the army now"
section so I would like to explain my position: I am trying to write
this HOWTO both as a journalist and a scientist would do: this implies
as a journalist to look for information from every source available,
and as a scientist to be neutral: and as the US Army is willing to
purchase more than 30.000 units one can hardly overlook this user
group. This document is intended to be the starting point of a long
term work. If you have any information ( that can be checked ) that
you think is of interest, do not hesitate contact me.
3. What is a Wearable anyway ?
Well, as it name implies a wearable is a computer you are supposed to
wear, actually very few wearables fill this definition. On a more
practical point of view one can define a wearable as a computer you
can use on the run relying only on its power supply ( see the power
supply section for more information ). So with such a definition PDAs,
palmcomputers, customized laptops are wearables too. As Wearable
computing is a new field, there is no standard definition for a
Wearable computer, but you may find Professor Steve Mann's definition
very . To me medical devices such as pacemakers too are Wearable
computers and they don't fit in Professor Steve Mann's definition
<http://wearcomp.org/wearcompfaq.htm> ( actually Professor Steve Mann
is one of the Pionneers in Wearable computing ) On the Wearcomp
website there is also a FAQ
<hthttp://wearcomp.org/wearcompfaq.html> trying to define what a
Wearable is.
I am not a specialist in wearables, simply I have a very strong
interest in nomadic computing and I studying a lot its implementations
both from a technical point of view and from the way nomadic computing
is going to change our every day life and the way we interacts as we
are getting more and more connected.
This text is included in the LINUX DOCUMENTATION PROJECT
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO <http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO> .
The latest version of this document is available in HTML format at
http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/Wearable-HOWTO.html
<http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/wearable/Wearable-HOWTO.html>, you can
retrieve the sgml format at http://infonomade.linuxfr.org/Wearable-
HOWTO.sgml <http://infonoamde.linuxfr.org/wearable/Wearable-
HOWTO.html>
I will maintain the French version too. If you wish to mirror it or to
translate it, please contact me.
Lionel, Trollhunter Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery <trollhunter@linuxfr.org> or
at <boucli27@altavista.net>
4.
Advocacy
Some people may want to know why you want to build a wearable or you
may have to sell your idea to the people who are responsible for the
purchase. Here are some ideas you may use.
4.1.
Why ?
Because, you want to experiment by yourself, because you think that
Human Computer Interaction is not a matter of designing the n-th
windowmanager, because you feel that enhanced reality is the cutting
edge of your evolution.
4.2.
The Wearable concept is not a revolution, it is just an evolution.
Some people are afraid of revolutionary or so called products, thus
the good news is that the wearable may look like a revolutionary
concept but it is actually just an evolution of the computing
hardware. Let me explain that : At first there was the Mainframe,
then came the desktop computer enabling people to work in their
office, latter the PC enabled these people to work at home too, as
time passed the portable PC enabled people to work in a Hotel room, or
everywhere they could find a power plug ( yes an Osborne or an IBM's
convertible were definitively not laptop computers ), at the same time
some pocket computers appeared on the market : Sharp PC1500, Canon
X07, Casio PB100 then the first one weighted less and less, the second
one disappeared but the LCD screen was, with other things their legacy
allowing the laptop to emerge, as the laptop went mainstream, its size
went smaller allowing people to work in the train, at the library ...,
then palmtop PC's such as the HP95LX and PDA's appeared, ( at this
time the most successful is the PalmPilot family and its clones )
allowing people to work on the move, so the wearable is just the next
step in this move towards miniaturization. ( If you want to learn
more about Laptops and Linux you should read the Laptop-HOWTO, the
latest version can be found at Werner's Heuser Homepage
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> )
4.3.
The Wearable may give its user an edge.
In today's competitive world it is very important to get an edge over
the other company, thus for example in a plane repair company the
engineers who are using wearables do not waste time in asking for
blueprints but instead have the blueprint and the technical data at
will while performing their job, thus they will be able to repair the
planes faster. You may choose an example in your job.
4.4.
The Wearable concept: a stealth menace.
When they made their first appearance on the market, some products or
technologies were, to say the least, less than perfect. This is a
stealth menace, if you read Clayton Christensen's book "The
innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail"
or Andy's Grove "Only the paranoid survives" you will see that some
corporations that relies on a product and that have a king of the hill
may fall down because they overlooked a new product/technology that
was clumsy at its beginning and was at first in a market niche, then
the contender took over the market.
4.5.
Wearable computing: an emerging industry.
The people who decide to fund your project are not always very found
about technical details, thus you will have to use other arguments,
otherwise your pet project will be sent to /dev/null. If one reads
again chapter 2 of AP Sloan's book: "My years with General Motors" it
is obvious that the Wearable industry is going into the same changes
as did the automobile industry in the US at the turn of the century :
it turned from a Hobby with some small manufacturers to a mass market
Industry. It took nearly 30 years to the automobile industry to
change, but the wearable industry should have done this changes in
less than 5 years, so if they don't invest on this product others will
do.
5.
What CPU ?
5.1.
PDA based Wearables
Usually they use non Intel CPU ( except the HP95/100/200LX ) See the
PalmPilot : a new breed of wearables section.
5.2.
PC/104 and laptop based Wearables.
Theses devices are using usually an Intel or Intel compatible CPU.
5.2.1.
What is PC/104 ?
PC/104 is an industrial standard, for PC based systems that can be
stacked together in order to create an embedded system. The footprint
of theses boards is 4"x4" so as you can see it is a good base in order
to start a wearable project.
5.2.2.
What about PC/104-plus ?
It is a PCI addition to the PC/104 standard. you can read the PC-104
FAQ <http://www.controlled.com/pc104faq>
5.3. Transmeta's processor the Crusoe.
It seems that Transmeta hasn't build the fastest chip on the market
but has indeed focused on power saving making its processor and ideal
choice for a wearable project, moreover it seems that motherboards
will be available very soon as Phoenix Bios released their Bios for
this chip.
5.4.
Misc
Last year there were some alpha based Multia sold for around $100, but
it seemed AFAIK that nobody ever managed to build a wearable around
one of theses devices.
6.
Power supply
There is plenty of choice as long as you use batteries. But be careful
__NEVER__ use liquid acid filled batteries it is a Health Hazard for
this application.
7.
OS.
For the people whose Wearable is based on a PDA, there is little
choice : most of the time they have to do with the PDA's manufacturer
OS, AFAIK Linux on Psion series 5 is not mainstream. a commercial
solution called WindStone primary targeted to palmpilots with a
project to port it to ARM based computers it is made by OSK
<http://www.oski.co.kr/>, so and see. For Mips based PDA
<http://www.freebsd.org/~imp/pdamips.html> type; some of them seem to
be able to run NetBSD <http://www.netbsd.org> ( it is a member of the
*BSD family of unices running on a lot of platforms ).
For those using a PC derivative, the choice seems to be between
Microsoft products or Linux, Well, Microsoft products are not exactly
the best choice and DEBIAN/GNU Linux is the winner ( I don't think
that for general purposes one has to use a posix .4 compliant kernel
).
There is another contender QNX <http://www.qnx.com>, but is more
industrial oriented, so for hobby or research it is not the best
choice.
8.
The Sulawesi project.
This project deals as well with input modalities and with output
modalities thus its section is just before the Input/Output part of
this document.
It is meant to accept input from different modalities and to do its
input to a number of different modalities, this is written in Java;
The good news is that it is highly portable, the bad news is that
today a JVM is a memory and resource hog ( but, to me, Java and the
related technologies such as Jini, just like the wearable, is a
stealth menace ). One of the nice features of this project is the
fact that, because of a clever design, it can deal with with a great
input and output modalities that exists today, and when new modalities
one hadn't even think about will be available, it should be able to
deal with them in a very short time and with little effort.
Today, it can accept input from a GPS too. You can find more
information at : Sulawesi Home Page
<http://vasewww.essex.ac.uk/projects/>
9.
Input
9.1.
Variations around the keyboard
9.1.1.
Mini keyboards
Usually theses devices are on the wearer's forearm or wrist.
The WristPC <http://www.pfuca.com/products/hhkb/hhcindex.html>
Keyboard and the Arm mount micro keyboard
<http://www.ivpgi.com/1accessory.htm> from the Phoenix Group Inc. are
typical from this concept.
9.1.2.
One hand keyboard.
IMHO it is the best concept because it doesn't require you to look at
the keyboard while typing is the less intrusive when you have to deal
with other people, and in order to be accepted by other a Wearable
wearer's must have the lowest visual signature.
The archetype of this concept is the Twiddler
<http://www.handykey.com> and all of its clones.
At first using a twiddler may seem to be a little bit confusing. The
very first thing to do is to read the manual ( don't forget to plug
the keyboard or the PS/2 adaptator or your twiddler won't work because
it will get no power supply. ) The reference card may, at first, seem
confusing because when you are working with your twiddler you are
behind the buttons and the reference card show you the buttons from
the front side not from the rear so you will have to switch right and
left. When you have passed theses steps you will quickly learn how to
use it and IMHO it feels very comfortable to use. The way the
integrated mouse operates is very natural too.
10.
Audio Output
When your system doesn't output too much data, or in order to signal
some special events an audio output can do the job. Most laptops come
with a Sound Blaster compatible sound card and a lot of PC-104 cards
are sold with such a sound card on board or you should buy a sound
module. The next step is to redirect your text output to a
text_to_speak program.
As a lot of input is done using emacs, it seems to be a good idea to
use Emacsspeak
<http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/emacspeak/emacspeak.html>
11.
Visual Output
11.1.
Head Down displays.
11.1.1.
Wristwatch type
11.1.1.1. Commercial Solutions.
Some manufacturers ( eg Seiko, Citizen, Casio ) manufactured
Wristwatches that could be linked to a computer, ( I remember that in
1982 Seiko showed a prototype of a wirstwatch TV ( monochrome LCD )).
Casio <http://www.casio.com> has a broad set of wristwatches, some of
them could be descibed as Wearables that can display time among other
things, of interest are the
o The PC Unite that can exchange data with a computer using an infra
red link.
o The ATC1200-1V Forester features an electronic compass. plus
thermometer and barometer. I used to own one of these it is a great
piece of hardware
o The Technowear products have different features including voice
recording, IR remote control, Databank...
o The GPS <http://205.158.10.200/gps/top.html>watch is one of the
most intruiging watch I have ever seen
11.1.1.2. The Wristwatchcomputer.
In 1998 S. Mann displayed a Wristwatch
<http://www.wearcam.org/wristwatchcomputer/>videoconferencing
computer, it runs GNU/Linux and uses an XF86 Server, there is a
pinhole video camera on the watch itself. This device is to say the
least impressive, some of the software, is downlable
<http://www.wearcam.org/orbits/orbits_v1.08.tar.gz> and GPLed.
It is also possible to use a 4 lines LCD display connected to the
serial port of your laptop ( numerous paper or online electronics
magazine offer schematics ).
11.1.2.
PDA type
PDA's seem to be a cheap and efficient way of sending and displaying
data for a wearable, actually any PDA with a VT100 emulation program
and a serial link can be used effectively as a terminal ( I have
successfully used my HP200LX running kermit
<http://www.columbia.edu/kermit>
as a terminal for my desktop, giving me an emergency access to it if
the display failed )
11.2.
Head UP displays
The distinction between obstrusives an non obstrusives ones is not
from the wearer point of view but from the other people, that is is
the display forbid to see the wearer's eyes
11.2.1.
Obstrusives displays
11.2.1.1.
Hacks with LEDs
Some people managed to use blinking LEDs in order to retrieve
information from their device. This is one of the simplest display one
can imagine : a LED or a row of LED blinking.
11.2.1.2.
Sony GLASSTRON
Sony sells a device called the Glasstron; in Paris, France the FNAC
Montparnasse sells the PVD-V30 glasstron 55 at 13999F ( this is about
US $2333 ).
11.2.1.3. The M1
Tekgear <http://www.tekgear.ca/displays/m1.html> manufactures the M1.
11.2.1.4.
The VRD ( Virtual Retinal Display )
With this device a manufactured by Microvison <http://www.mvis.com> a
LASER LED draws the image on the wearer's retina, the US Navy tested
it in the summer 1999, at Hawaii ( see in the army now ).
11.2.2.
Nonobstrusives displays
The Microptical <http://www.microopticalcorp.com>corporation
manufactures two displays the Integrated Eyeglass display and the
ClipOn display.
12.
Comms
AFAIK Most of the time it is with a radio link, should it be with a
radio transceiver or via a cell phone.
It seems that IBM's Personal Area Network
<http://www.research.ibm.com/research/pan.html> or the Bluetooth
<http://www.bluetooth.com.> technology will enable building LANs of
Wearables very easyly. ( actualy IBM is also a member of the Bluetooth
SIG ).
13.
How can I have my Wearable ?
13.1.
Commercial Solutions.
Some companies sells Wearables ready to use out of the Box, hereafter
is a list of them.
o Genesys Technology <http://www.genesistech2000.com/product.html>
manufactures a Wearable that uses a HMD display.
o handsfreemobile <http://www.handsfreemobile.com> sells the Mid
Riff Brain, it is mostly an LCD touchpad based solution and the
unit is in a pouch fixed on the waistband.
o Teltronics <http://www.teltronics.com/is/hardware.html > sells the
Mentis. It is a modular wearable.
o Via <http://www.flexipc.com/ > sells the VIA II PC a Wearable that
is worn on the waistband.
o Xybernaut <http://www.xybernaut.com/F00005.htm > sells the Mobile
Assistant IV ( MA IV ) available with RedHat Linux 6.1, Suse Linux
,Windows 9x and Windows NT4
13.2.
Do it yourself.
As wearable computing is in its very early beginning you should make
various experiments and share them with your peers. Doing this with
an open and versatile OS such as Linux should give you a lot of fun (
after all, desktop computer is just a plain vanilla computer), because
you play with both the OS and the hardware. If you are unsure of the
technical decisions you are going to make, you can start with a proven
design. On the net you can find the specifications of some wearable
systems thus you will not have to reinvent the wheel and you will
avoid some pitfalls. ( the designs are sorted by alphabetical order ).
o The Lizzi <http://wearables.www.media.mit.edu/projects/wearables>
; it is the MIT's wearable design.
o In the UK you can find the Vase Lab Wearable
<http://wearables.essex.ac.uk/spec/wear-spec.html> it is from Neil
Newman at the University of Essex.
o In Canada, the Wearcomp <http://www.wearcomp.org/wearhow/> is a
proven design, by Prof. Steve Mann at the University of Toronto.
14.
PalmPilot and its clone ( IBM, HandSpring, TRG ): a new breed of
wearables.
14.1. The palm family.
The PalmPilot family and its clone is a hit among PDAs, but less known
is the fact that it is more than a PDA it is one of the first off the
shelves wearable. You can connect it to your cell phone, When on the
move you may need an input device more convenient than Graffiti: a
keyboard for example, one device exists that allow you to plug a PS/2
keyboard in your palm: Happy Hacking cradle Specially for the Palm.
PFU <http://www.pfuca.com/products/hhkb/hhcindex.html> Happy Hacking
sells a PS/2 adapter for the Palm, thus one should be able to hook any
PS/2 keyboard on this device. It is battery ( 2 AA ) powered.
It seems that someone has managed to get a twiddler keyboard working
with the PalmPilot. If you want to do land navigation it exists an
electronic compass you can plug into your palm it is called Palm
Navigator and it is manufactured by Precision Navigation
<http://www.precisionnav.com> They even sell a weather station.
If you have more money to spend or want more precision you can
purchase a GPS receiver called Earthmate; it is manufactured by
Precision Navigation <http://www.delorme.com> Some of you may want a
software only solution: this can be done. If you have some highly
specialized needs like commuting without having the subway map and
want a readily made solution you can use a program like Route Expert,
I use it on a daily basis, it works great with Paris's subway and I
will test it with Berlin's subway at the end of the year ( of course
it exists other programs but this one is the one I am using ). I guess
everyone can find the North using the sun and a wirtswatch, a
PalmPilot can do it with more precision using readymade programs such
as T.J's Sun-Compass ( once again there exists other programs but this
one is the one I am using ).
The most important with the PalmPilot for the Linux community is the
fact that there exists two ports of Linux for it ( DragonBall is a
member of the 68000 family after all ). One is GPLed
You can find more information at : uClinux <http://www.uclinux.org>
the second one is commercial, it is based in Korea. WindStone
<http://www.oski.co.kr> it is based on uClinux and it is coming with
its own GUI and widgets.
Thus with the next generation of Palms, the CPU speed will be twice
today's speed, and with Linux on board we will be able to run a lot of
software that are hardware independent and have been written for
today's x86 Linux based wearables.
14.2. PDAs runing Linux.
Samsung displayed a PDA named theYopi
<http://www.sem.samsung.co.kr/eng/product/digital/pda/> runing Linux.
It is an ARMLinux based PDA, 32 MB RAM, featuring a voice recorder,
mp3 player,IrDa port, compact flash slot, a 4" color TFT and
HandWritting Recognition, plus Serial and USB interface. Word has
spread that it should be sold this summer but unti then wait and see.
It exists a Mips based PDA info Center
<http://www.freebsd.org/~imp/pdamips.html> This site focuses both on
NetBSD and LinuxCE on MIPS based PDAs.
You can find some information on the LinuxCE
<http://www.linuxce.org> port; and you may wish to read the LinuxCE
FAQ <http://linuxce.2gn.com/faq> With theses PDAs one should be able
to consider building a nice PDA based Wearable.
15.
How to carry my wearable ?
Depending on your wearable's family ( eg Palm, palmtop computer,
laptop based, PC/104 ) there seem to be 3 convenient ways of carrying
it around. You can carry it on tour wrist, or in a backpack or you
can hang it on your waistband.
16.
Applications with Wearables.
As a rule of thumb the first people who are going to use extensively
the wearables are the people whose work is a matter of life and death.
16.1.
In the army now.
It is very important in an army to have an edge other the enemy, that
is what we have always seen in history, and moreover the army is known
to spend vast amount of money in order to get this edge.
Some years ago the infantryman was ordered to carry different pieces
of ordnance that came from different sources and were not part of a
whole thing, and to try to do his best with theses ( looks like
Frankenstein to me ). With theses new projects the infantryman is the
centerpiece of a coherent, complementary weapons and equipment system.
o Australian Army.
In Australia there is a program called Land 125 Soldier Combat
System ( formerly "Wundurra" ( the aboriginal word for Warrior ) ),
there is some information on DTSO
<http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/>'s website; and according to the
ATSE <http://www.atse.org.au/>this project should be on phase 2 on
year 2000/2001.
According to DTSO the soldiers should have intra-section radios,
night vision and sighting capability and head up display.
o French Forces.
In France there is a project called FELIN ( Fantassin a Equipement
et Liaison Integrees ( Foot soldier with integrated equipment and
links ) )
in order to enhance the efficiency of the soldier a set of devices
had been developed with very careful limitations : historically the
foot soldier has been a beast of burden, thus the FELIN project
wishes to limit its load at 25kg. The soldier has got a radio link,
a computer and a camera on his weapon ( allowing him to open fire
from cover ). The display is done with a monocular HMD.
o UK Forces.
The FIST ( Future Integrated Soldier Technology ) project: Early
tests were conducted on Salisbury Plain to determine if the soldier
could access information either 'Head Up' ( in a helmet display ),
'Head Down' ( on a wrist mounted display ), via a palmtop computer
or if necessary a map
lessons learned ( in L'armement issue 67 September 1999 )
o There is no scope for enhancing soldier performance through the
provision of tactical information unless the soldier can access
information 'on the move'
o The preference, both by day and night was the helmet display.
The FIST Digitization Trials will be conducted on Salisbury Plain
in June and November 2000. The June trial addresses information
flow, the November trial will address the benefits of enhanced
information to determine if there is a consequent increase in the
'Tempo of Operation'.
o US Forces
o The land warrior program
It is a system made of 5 subsystems cooperating together.
o A Pentium Computer/Radio Subsystem (C/RS) made by Motorola
featuring an integrated GPS receiver
o The Protective Clothing and Individual Equipment Subsystem (PCIE)
made by Gentex
o The Weapon Subsystem (WS) made by Raytheon
o The Software Subsystem made by Raytheon
o The Integrated Helmet Assembly Subsystem (IHAS) made by Honeywell
The location of each squad member will be available through the
IHAS, as well as digitized maps and tactical information. Every
soldier will have an integrated GPS as well as video recording
capabilities. Of course the soldier will have night vision
capability as well as deported sighting. Tests should take place
during year 2000. More info on the Land Warrior program at
http://www.sbccom.army.mil/programs/lw/index.htm
<http://www.sbccom.army.mil/programs/lw/index.htm >
( There is even a FAQ and pictures ). AFAIK this is going to be
the biggest test for the wearable concept because the Army is
planning to purchase 34000 units plus spares.
o The navy.
During the summer 1999 news poured that the US Navy tested the
Virtual Retinal Display at Hawaii. The explanation is that there
doesn't seem to be enough space in the fighting ships because of
the numerous CRT, so it is conceivable for the crew to wear VRDs
Needless to say, that some very low profile and highly specialized
units should have adopted the wearable concept but as far as we
cannot have evidence we can only speculate on that.
16.2.
At the hospital
The Microvison <http://www.mvis.com>'s VRD has been delivered
<http://www.mvis.com/2-medi.htm> to the Wallace Kettering Neuroscience
Institute, Dayton Ohio, for neurosurgery applications. This is not a
full featured wearable solution but it is a big step toward the
adoption of wearables in health care activity. ( on the website you
can view a simulated image <http://www.mvis.com/dr_pov4jpg.htm> ).
16.3.
With the firefighters
Firefighters are using thermal cameras in order to see through the
smoke, in the next years theses devices should be miniaturized and
with a wearable firefighters should have both hands free and will have
real time access to data such as the map of the building and numerous
helpful informations.
16.4.
Wearable for the disabled.
One can easily think that a wearable computer can be very helpfull for
the disabled people, for example for blind people a wearable with a
GPS receiver, some maps of the surroundings and even more, interacting
with its surroundings by means of active beacons can be a very good
substitute for a dog, the elements exists for a long time.
This should be easily done : the linux comunity has good text to
speech applications, voice recognition is quite ready for this
application , the IrDA or Modem radio drivers are OK, the same applies
to the GPS programs, we have to develop an electronic blind walking
stick in order to detect the obstacles at a much reater range and
last, but not the least to convince the autorities.
17.
A borg's life.
This section deals with Human-Human interaction. As the wearable is
quite new for the layman one has to expect some strange reactions from
the other people. When I go out and read my PalmPilot's screen while
walking or in the subway people have one of the following reactions :
o No reaction: because they are in their own world or because they
don't care.
o Curiosity: they come to me and ask me questions like "what it is",
"what are you doing with it" and "how much does it cost ?"
o Disdain : they may think I want to draw attention.
o Hostility/Fear : "this guy is nut: avoid him".
Steve Mann Gave an interview in the New Scientist magazine and as
he was one of the first to test the waters, so he has a long
experience in this field. The second problem is that the
wearable's hardware is quite expensive and some predators will spot
a new device that can be easily stolen and sold at a good price, or
just in order to have one of them. As a conclusion you have to be
very cautious.
18.
Sources of Information.
18.1.
Non commercial
A good starting point to gather information is to subscribe to the
wear-hard@haven.org mailing list, you have to send a message with the
word subscribe in the subject to wear-hard-request@haven.org.
The archive of this mailing list is mirrored at Wearable Central
<http://wearables.blu.org> This site was founded to be an archive
center for the mailing list and the newsgroup. It is maintened by R.
Paul McCarty.
You can also read one of the very good FAQs such as the wearcompfaq
<http://wearcomp.org/wearcompfaq.html> or you may go to the wearable
webring <http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=wearit;list> (
at the time of this writting the webring lists 35 sites ).
18.2.
Commercial.
You can find information on the web sites of the company cited in the
various sections of this document and as stated earlier in this
document : The companies quoted here are just for your information
only, I do not endorse any of their product, this just in order to
help you.
18.3. Reading.
Some science fiction books can be a good introduction to Wearable
computing. Among other books one can think of ( alphabetical listing
):
o Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson ( a lot of nanotechnology too ).
o Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
o Virtual Light by Willian Gibson
19.
To do List.
This section is about things that have to be done for the next
releases if you wish to contribute it is a good place to look at.
o To review more in depth the sulawesi project.
o Organic Leds are very interesting, I should cover theses too.
o To expand the input/visual output sections.
o To expand and reorder the advocacy section.
o To have an "in the car" section.
o The concept of an UW wearable seems viable lets think about it.
o List and describe all projects.
o List and describe all products.
o To get some sleep ;-).
20.
Revision History.
o v 0.0.7 March 2000, second release.
o v 0.0.5 December 1999, first release.
o v 0.0.1 November 1999, first draft.
21.
Thanks and Credits.
I would like to thank among other people:
o Werner Heuser <wehe@snafu.de> <mailto:wehe@snafu.de> for the work
he has done maintaining his Laptop-HOWTO
<http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html>
o The people of the Wearable mailing list which proved to be very
informative and open minded.
o My friend Manu Coutris for his never ending patience and kindness.
o The people of the Wearable community whose discussion and web sites
strengthen my confidence in the wearable concept.
o Professor Steve Mann for his patience and for beeing one of the
pionners in the Wearable Computing field. I also wish to thank him
for the wearcompdef, wearcompfaq and wristwatch wearable links.