• Title/Summary/Keyword: Power output

Search Result 8,443, Processing Time 0.038 seconds

In Vitro Effect of 808-nm Diode Laser on Proliferation and Glycosaminoglycan Synthesis of Rabbit Articular Chondrocytes (토끼 관절 연골세포의 증식과 글리코스아미노글리칸 합성에 대한 808-nm 다이오드 레이저의 효능 평가)

  • Minar, Maruf;Hwang, Ya-won;Choi, Seok-hwa;Kim, Gonhyung
    • Journal of Veterinary Clinics
    • /
    • v.32 no.4
    • /
    • pp.295-300
    • /
    • 2015
  • The aim of the study was to assess the in vitro effect of 808-nm InGaAs diode laser on rabbit articular chondrocyte proliferation and sulphated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) synthesis in alginate bead. Previous studies revealed either positive or negative stimulatory effects of laser on different types of cells. A 808-nm InGaAs diode laser at 1.0W power output was used to irradiate the rabbit chondrocytes in alginate beads with energy densities of $31J/cm^2$ (G 1) and $62J/cm^2$ (G 2) corresponding to the experimental groups for 10 seconds and 20 seconds, respectively at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after seeding. Control group was left untreated. MTT assay was performed at 1 week and 2 weeks after the $1^{st}$ laser irradiation in alginate beads. sGAG synthesis in alginate beads at 1 week and 2 weeks were determined by DMMB assay. Histological evaluation for cellular distribution and sGAG deposition around the cells were performed by alcian blue stain. MTT assay revealed no positive stimulatory effect in cell proliferation in alginate bead. DMMB assay results showed significantly increased sGAG production in G 2 chondrocytes at 2 weeks. Image analysis of alcian blue stained slides also showed significantly higher percentage of positive alcian blue stain in G 2 chondrocytes. This result suggests that 808-nm InGaAs diode laser with 1.0 W power output although cannot stimulate cell proliferation it can increase the cell secretion activity and sGAG deposition in alginate beads.

A 10b 50MS/s Low-Power Skinny-Type 0.13um CMOS ADC for CIS Applications (CIS 응용을 위해 제한된 폭을 가지는 10비트 50MS/s 저 전력 0.13um CMOS ADC)

  • Song, Jung-Eun;Hwang, Dong-Hyun;Hwang, Won-Seok;Kim, Kwang-Soo;Lee, Seung-Hoon
    • Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
    • /
    • v.48 no.5
    • /
    • pp.25-33
    • /
    • 2011
  • This work proposes a skinny-type 10b 50MS/s 0.13um CMOS three-step pipeline ADC for CIS applications. Analog circuits for CIS applications commonly employ a high supply voltage to acquire a sufficiently acceptable dynamic range, while digital circuits use a low supply voltage to minimize power consumption. The proposed ADC converts analog signals in a wide-swing range to low voltage-based digital data using both of the two supply voltages. An op-amp sharing technique employed in residue amplifiers properly controls currents depending on the amplification mode of each pipeline stage, optimizes the performance of op-amps, and improves the power efficiency. In three FLASH ADCs, the number of input stages are reduced in half by the interpolation technique while each comparator consists of only a latch with low kick-back noise based on pull-down switches to separate the input nodes and output nodes. Reference circuits achieve a required settling time only with on-chip low-power drivers and digital correction logic has two kinds of level shifter depending on signal-voltage levels to be processed. The prototype ADC in a 0.13um CMOS to support 0.35um thick-gate-oxide transistors demonstrates the measured DNL and INL within 0.42LSB and 1.19LSB, respectively. The ADC shows a maximum SNDR of 55.4dB and a maximum SFDR of 68.7dB at 50MS/s, respectively. The ADC with an active die area of 0.53$mm^2$ consumes 15.6mW at 50MS/s with an analog voltage of 2.0V and two digital voltages of 2.8V ($=D_H$) and 1.2V ($=D_L$).

A 0.31pJ/conv-step 13b 100MS/s 0.13um CMOS ADC for 3G Communication Systems (3G 통신 시스템 응용을 위한 0.31pJ/conv-step의 13비트 100MS/s 0.13um CMOS A/D 변환기)

  • Lee, Dong-Suk;Lee, Myung-Hwan;Kwon, Yi-Gi;Lee, Seung-Hoon
    • Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
    • /
    • v.46 no.3
    • /
    • pp.75-85
    • /
    • 2009
  • This work proposes a 13b 100MS/s 0.13um CMOS ADC for 3G communication systems such as two-carrier W-CDMA applications simultaneously requiring high resolution, low power, and small size at high speed. The proposed ADC employs a four-step pipeline architecture to optimize power consumption and chip area at the target resolution and sampling rate. Area-efficient high-speed high-resolution gate-bootstrapping circuits are implemented at the sampling switches of the input SHA to maintain signal linearity over the Nyquist rate even at a 1.0V supply operation. The cascode compensation technique on a low-impedance path implemented in the two-stage amplifiers of the SHA and MDAC simultaneously achieves the required operation speed and phase margin with more reduced power consumption than the Miller compensation technique. Low-glitch dynamic latches in sub-ranging flash ADCs reduce kickback-noise referred to the differential input stage of the comparator by isolating the input stage from output nodes to improve system accuracy. The proposed low-noise current and voltage references based on triple negative T.C. circuits are employed on chip with optional off-chip reference voltages. The prototype ADC in a 0.13um 1P8M CMOS technology demonstrates the measured DNL and INL within 0.70LSB and 1.79LSB, respectively. The ADC shows a maximum SNDR of 64.5dB and a maximum SFDR of 78.0dB at 100MS/s, respectively. The ABC with an active die area of $1.22mm^2$ consumes 42.0mW at 100MS/s and a 1.2V supply, corresponding to a FOM of 0.31pJ/conv-step.

Multi-element Ultrasound Applicator for the Treatment of Cancer in Uterus and Cervix (자궁암 치료용 다채널 초음파 온열치료기)

  • Lee Rena
    • Progress in Medical Physics
    • /
    • v.16 no.1
    • /
    • pp.16-23
    • /
    • 2005
  • The objective of this study was to construct multi-element ultrasound applicators for the treatment of gynecologic cancer with high dose rate brachytherapy. For the treatment of uterus, piezo-ceramic crystal transducer (PZT -5A) with outer diameter of 4 mm, wall thickness of 1.3 mm, and length of 24.5 mm was selected. For the treatment of cervix or vagina, it should be possible to insert the applicator into the vagina. Thus, a cylindrical PZT -8 material with outer diameter of 24.5 mm, wall thickness of 1.3 mm, and length of 15.2 mm was selected. The operating frequencies determined by vector impedance measurement were 3.2 MHz for the PZT 5A cylinder (OD=4 mm) and 1.7 MHz for the PZT -8 cylinder (OD: 24.5 mm). The ratios of generated acoustic output power to applied electric power were 33% and 61% for the tandem type crystal and the cylinder type crystal, respectively. The radiated acoustic pressure fields from both transducers were calculated using a Matlab code and measured in water using hydrophone. There was good agreement between measured and calculated acoustic pressure field distribution. For a tandem type transducer, the calculated acoustic pressure field decreased from 0.023 MPa at 10 mm to 0.010 Mpa at 30 mm, the reduction of 57%. For the cylinder type transducer which will be used for the treatment of vagina showed 78% reduction at 15 mm and 66% at 25 mm as compared to values at 5 mm from the surface. Based on the characteristics of the transducers, this study demonstrated the possibility of using the crystals as a heating source. Finally, a 3-element and 4-element prototype applicators were constructed. The 3-element applicator is 75 mm long and 4 mm thick and will be used for the treatment of uterus. The 4-element applicator is 61 mm long and 24.5 mm thick and will be used for the treatment of vagina. Using these applicators, it is possible to generate enough power to increase temperature to therapeutic level.

  • PDF

Experimental Study on Energy Saving through FAN Airflow Control in the Generator Room of a 9200-ton Training Ship (9200톤급 실습선 발전기실 FAN 송풍유량 제어를 통한 선박에너지 절약에 관한 실험적 연구)

  • Moon-seok Choi;Chang-min Lee;Su-jeong Choe;Jae-jung Hur;Jae-Hyuk Choi
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
    • /
    • v.29 no.6
    • /
    • pp.697-703
    • /
    • 2023
  • As a part of the global industrial efforts to reduce environmental pollution owing to air pollution, regulations have been established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The IMO has implemented various regulations such as EEXI, EEDI, and CII to reduce air pollution emissions from ships. They are also promoting measures to decrease the power consumption in ships, aiming to conserve energy. Most of the power used in ships is consumed by electric motors. Among the motors installed on ships, the engine room blower that takes up a significant load, operates at a constant irrespective of demand. Therefore, energy savings can be expected through frequency control. In this study, we demonstrated the efficacy of energy savings by controlling the frequency of the electric motor of the generator blower that supplies combustion air to the generator's turbocharger. The system was modeled based on the output data of the turboharger outlet temperature in response to the blower frequency inpu. A PI control system was established to control the frequency with the target being the turbocharger outlet temperature. By maintaining the turbocharger design standard outlet temperature and controlling the blower frequency, we achieved an annual energy saving of 15,552kW in power consumption. The effectiveness of energy savings through frequency control of blower fans was verified during the summer (April to September) and winter (March to October) periods. Based on this, we achieved annual fuel cost savings of 6,091 thousand won and reduction of 8.5 tons of carbon dioxide, 2.4 kg of SOx, and 7.8 kg of NOx air pollutants on the training ship.

Memory Organization for a Fuzzy Controller.

  • Jee, K.D.S.;Poluzzi, R.;Russo, B.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
    • /
    • 1993.06a
    • /
    • pp.1041-1043
    • /
    • 1993
  • Fuzzy logic based Control Theory has gained much interest in the industrial world, thanks to its ability to formalize and solve in a very natural way many problems that are very difficult to quantify at an analytical level. This paper shows a solution for treating membership function inside hardware circuits. The proposed hardware structure optimizes the memoried size by using particular form of the vectorial representation. The process of memorizing fuzzy sets, i.e. their membership function, has always been one of the more problematic issues for the hardware implementation, due to the quite large memory space that is needed. To simplify such an implementation, it is commonly [1,2,8,9,10,11] used to limit the membership functions either to those having triangular or trapezoidal shape, or pre-definite shape. These kinds of functions are able to cover a large spectrum of applications with a limited usage of memory, since they can be memorized by specifying very few parameters ( ight, base, critical points, etc.). This however results in a loss of computational power due to computation on the medium points. A solution to this problem is obtained by discretizing the universe of discourse U, i.e. by fixing a finite number of points and memorizing the value of the membership functions on such points [3,10,14,15]. Such a solution provides a satisfying computational speed, a very high precision of definitions and gives the users the opportunity to choose membership functions of any shape. However, a significant memory waste can as well be registered. It is indeed possible that for each of the given fuzzy sets many elements of the universe of discourse have a membership value equal to zero. It has also been noticed that almost in all cases common points among fuzzy sets, i.e. points with non null membership values are very few. More specifically, in many applications, for each element u of U, there exists at most three fuzzy sets for which the membership value is ot null [3,5,6,7,12,13]. Our proposal is based on such hypotheses. Moreover, we use a technique that even though it does not restrict the shapes of membership functions, it reduces strongly the computational time for the membership values and optimizes the function memorization. In figure 1 it is represented a term set whose characteristics are common for fuzzy controllers and to which we will refer in the following. The above term set has a universe of discourse with 128 elements (so to have a good resolution), 8 fuzzy sets that describe the term set, 32 levels of discretization for the membership values. Clearly, the number of bits necessary for the given specifications are 5 for 32 truth levels, 3 for 8 membership functions and 7 for 128 levels of resolution. The memory depth is given by the dimension of the universe of the discourse (128 in our case) and it will be represented by the memory rows. The length of a world of memory is defined by: Length = nem (dm(m)+dm(fm) Where: fm is the maximum number of non null values in every element of the universe of the discourse, dm(m) is the dimension of the values of the membership function m, dm(fm) is the dimension of the word to represent the index of the highest membership function. In our case then Length=24. The memory dimension is therefore 128*24 bits. If we had chosen to memorize all values of the membership functions we would have needed to memorize on each memory row the membership value of each element. Fuzzy sets word dimension is 8*5 bits. Therefore, the dimension of the memory would have been 128*40 bits. Coherently with our hypothesis, in fig. 1 each element of universe of the discourse has a non null membership value on at most three fuzzy sets. Focusing on the elements 32,64,96 of the universe of discourse, they will be memorized as follows: The computation of the rule weights is done by comparing those bits that represent the index of the membership function, with the word of the program memor . The output bus of the Program Memory (μCOD), is given as input a comparator (Combinatory Net). If the index is equal to the bus value then one of the non null weight derives from the rule and it is produced as output, otherwise the output is zero (fig. 2). It is clear, that the memory dimension of the antecedent is in this way reduced since only non null values are memorized. Moreover, the time performance of the system is equivalent to the performance of a system using vectorial memorization of all weights. The dimensioning of the word is influenced by some parameters of the input variable. The most important parameter is the maximum number membership functions (nfm) having a non null value in each element of the universe of discourse. From our study in the field of fuzzy system, we see that typically nfm 3 and there are at most 16 membership function. At any rate, such a value can be increased up to the physical dimensional limit of the antecedent memory. A less important role n the optimization process of the word dimension is played by the number of membership functions defined for each linguistic term. The table below shows the request word dimension as a function of such parameters and compares our proposed method with the method of vectorial memorization[10]. Summing up, the characteristics of our method are: Users are not restricted to membership functions with specific shapes. The number of the fuzzy sets and the resolution of the vertical axis have a very small influence in increasing memory space. Weight computations are done by combinatorial network and therefore the time performance of the system is equivalent to the one of the vectorial method. The number of non null membership values on any element of the universe of discourse is limited. Such a constraint is usually non very restrictive since many controllers obtain a good precision with only three non null weights. The method here briefly described has been adopted by our group in the design of an optimized version of the coprocessor described in [10].

  • PDF

Effect of Flywheel Weight on Engine Performance for the Small Diesel Engine (Flywheel의 중량(重量)이 소형(小型) 디젤기관(機關)의 성능(性能)에 미치는 영향(影響))

  • Jung, Hae Kook;Kim, Sung Rai;Myung, Byung Soo
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
    • /
    • v.15 no.2
    • /
    • pp.143-152
    • /
    • 1988
  • This study was conducted to obtain basic data which affected engine performance of the power tiller being widely used in the rural area. Among the various factors affected engine performance, only flywheel weight was considered as the major factor in this study. Fuel consumption ratio, motoring loss, torque, vibration and mechanical efficiency of the engine tested were measured and analyzed on the four levels of flywheel weight (32.2, 29.7, 26.4, 24.2 kg). The results obtained were as follows: 1. The maximum output of 6 and 7.5 kW engine was 7.43 kW and 7.85 kW respectively. When flywheel weight was reduced from 32.2 kg to 24.2 kg, output power of the engine was increased 0.27 kW in 6 kW engine and increased 0.39 kW in 7.5 kW engine. 2. The fuel consumption ratio was decreased from 300.8 to 296.8 g/kW-hr in 6 kW engine and decreased from 313.6 to 312.8 g/kW-hr in 7.5 kW engine when the flywheel weight was reduced from 32.2 kg to 24.2 kg. 3. The mechanical efficiencies of the engine was increased from 76.1 to 76.8% in 6 kW engine and increased from 76.7 to 77.0% in 7.5 kW engine when the flywheel weight was reduced from 32.2 kg to 24.2 kg. 4. When the flywheel weight was reduced from 32.2 kg to 24.2 kg, a tendency of a little decrease of vibration at X- and Z-axis in 6 kW engine and of a little increase of vibration at Y-axis in 6 kW engine and all directions in 7.5 kW engine was observed. 5. Motoring losses was decreased from 2.33 to l.76 kW in 6 kW engine and decreased from 2.46 to 1.84 kW in 7.5 kW engine when the flywheel weight was reduced from 32.2 kg to 24.2 kg. From the above results and the flywheel weight calculated theoretically, it was recommendable that the flywheel weight should be reduced about 7 kg in 6 kW engine and about 10 kg in 7.5 kW engine, respectively.

  • PDF

A Study on Mobile Antenna System Design with Tri-band Operation for Broadband Satellite Communications and DBS Reception (광대역 위성 통신/방송용 삼중 대역 이동형 안테나 시스템 설계에 관한 연구)

  • Eom Soon-Young;Jung Young-Bae;Son Seong-Ho;Yun Jae-Seung;Jeon Soon-Ick
    • The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
    • /
    • v.17 no.5 s.108
    • /
    • pp.461-475
    • /
    • 2006
  • In this paper, it is described about the tri-band mobile antenna system design to provide broadband multimedia and direct broadcasting services using goo-stationary Koreasat 3, simultaneously operated in Ka/K/Ku band. The radiating part of the antenna system with a fan beam characteristic in the elevation plane is composed of the quasi-offset dual shaped reflector and the tri-band feeder. The tri-band feeder is also composed of the Ka/K dual band feeder with the protruding dielectric rod, the circular polarizer, the ortho-mode transducer and the circular-polarized Ku band feed array. Especially, the Ka/K dual band circular polarizer was realized firstly using the comb-type structure. For fast satellite-tracking on the movement, the Ku band feed array has the structure of the $2{\times}2$ active phased array which can make electrical beams. And, the circular-polarized characteristic in the feed array was improved by $90^{\circ}$ rotating arrangement of four radiating elements polarized circularly by a $90^{\circ}$ hybrid coupler, respectively. Four beam forming channels to make electrical beams at Ku band are divided into the main beam channel and the tracking beam channel in the output, and noise temperature characteristics of each channel were analyzed on the basis of the contributions of internal sub_units. From the fabricated antenna system, the output power at $P_{1dBc}$ of Ka_Tx channel was measured more than 34.1 dBm and the measured noise figures of K/Ku_Rx channels were less than 2.4 dB and 1.5 dB, respectively, over the operating band. The radiation patterns with co- and cross-polarization in the tri-band were measured using a near-field measurement in the anechoic chamber. Especially, Ku radiation patterns were measured after correcting each initial phase of active channels with partial radiation patterns obtained from the independent excitation of each channel. The antenna gains measured in Ka/K/Ku band of the antenna system were more than 39.6 dBi, 37.5 dBi, 29.6 dBi, respectively. And, the antenna system showed good system performances such as Ka_Tx EIRP more than 43.7 dBW and K/Ku_Rx G/T more than 13.2 dB/K and 7.12 dB/K, respectively.

THE CURRENT STATUS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING IN THE USA

  • Webster, John G.
    • Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
    • /
    • v.1992 no.05
    • /
    • pp.27-47
    • /
    • 1992
  • Engineers have developed new instruments that aid in diagnosis and therapy Ultrasonic imaging has provided a nondamaging method of imaging internal organs. A complex transducer emits ultrasonic waves at many angles and reconstructs a map of internal anatomy and also velocities of blood in vessels. Fast computed tomography permits reconstruction of the 3-dimensional anatomy and perfusion of the heart at 20-Hz rates. Positron emission tomography uses certain isotopes that produce positrons that react with electrons to simultaneously emit two gamma rays in opposite directions. It locates the region of origin by using a ring of discrete scintillation detectors, each in electronic coincidence with an opposing detector. In magnetic resonance imaging, the patient is placed in a very strong magnetic field. The precessing of the hydrogen atoms is perturbed by an interrogating field to yield two-dimensional images of soft tissue having exceptional clarity. As an alternative to radiology image processing, film archiving, and retrieval, picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) are being implemented. Images from computed radiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasound are digitized, transmitted, and stored in computers for retrieval at distributed work stations. In electrical impedance tomography, electrodes are placed around the thorax. 50-kHz current is injected between two electrodes and voltages are measured on all other electrodes. A computer processes the data to yield an image of the resistivity of a 2-dimensional slice of the thorax. During fetal monitoring, a corkscrew electrode is screwed into the fetal scalp to measure the fetal electrocardiogram. Correlations with uterine contractions yield information on the status of the fetus during delivery To measure cardiac output by thermodilution, cold saline is injected into the right atrium. A thermistor in the right pulmonary artery yields temperature measurements, from which we can calculate cardiac output. In impedance cardiography, we measure the changes in electrical impedance as the heart ejects blood into the arteries. Motion artifacts are large, so signal averaging is useful during monitoring. An intraarterial blood gas monitoring system permits monitoring in real time. Light is sent down optical fibers inserted into the radial artery, where it is absorbed by dyes, which reemit the light at a different wavelength. The emitted light travels up optical fibers where an external instrument determines O2, CO2, and pH. Therapeutic devices include the electrosurgical unit. A high-frequency electric arc is drawn between the knife and the tissue. The arc cuts and the heat coagulates, thus preventing blood loss. Hyperthermia has demonstrated antitumor effects in patients in whom all conventional modes of therapy have failed. Methods of raising tumor temperature include focused ultrasound, radio-frequency power through needles, or microwaves. When the heart stops pumping, we use the defibrillator to restore normal pumping. A brief, high-current pulse through the heart synchronizes all cardiac fibers to restore normal rhythm. When the cardiac rhythm is too slow, we implant the cardiac pacemaker. An electrode within the heart stimulates the cardiac muscle to contract at the normal rate. When the cardiac valves are narrowed or leak, we implant an artificial valve. Silicone rubber and Teflon are used for biocompatibility. Artificial hearts powered by pneumatic hoses have been implanted in humans. However, the quality of life gradually degrades, and death ensues. When kidney stones develop, lithotripsy is used. A spark creates a pressure wave, which is focused on the stone and fragments it. The pieces pass out normally. When kidneys fail, the blood is cleansed during hemodialysis. Urea passes through a porous membrane to a dialysate bath to lower its concentration in the blood. The blind are able to read by scanning the Optacon with their fingertips. A camera scans letters and converts them to an array of vibrating pins. The deaf are able to hear using a cochlear implant. A microphone detects sound and divides it into frequency bands. 22 electrodes within the cochlea stimulate the acoustic the acoustic nerve to provide sound patterns. For those who have lost muscle function in the limbs, researchers are implanting electrodes to stimulate the muscle. Sensors in the legs and arms feed back signals to a computer that coordinates the stimulators to provide limb motion. For those with high spinal cord injury, a puff and sip switch can control a computer and permit the disabled person operate the computer and communicate with the outside world.

  • PDF

Wearable Computers

  • Cho, Gil-Soo;Barfield, Woodrow;Baird, Kevin
    • Fiber Technology and Industry
    • /
    • v.2 no.4
    • /
    • pp.490-508
    • /
    • 1998
  • One of the latest fields of research in the area of output devices is tactual display devices [13,31]. These tactual or haptic devices allow the user to receive haptic feedback output from a variety of sources. This allows the user to actually feel virtual objects and manipulate them by touch. This is an emerging technology and will be instrumental in enhancing the realism of wearable augmented environments for certain applications. Tactual displays have previously been used for scientific visualization in virtual environments by chemists and engineers to improve perception and understanding of force fields and of world models populated with the impenetrable. In addition to tactual displays, the use of wearable audio displays that allow sound to be spatialized are being developed. With wearable computers, designers will soon be able to pair spatialized sound to virtual representations of objects when appropriate to make the wearable computer experience even more realistic to the user. Furthermore, as the number and complexity of wearable computing applications continues to grow, there will be increasing needs for systems that are faster, lighter, and have higher resolution displays. Better networking technology will also need to be developed to allow all users of wearable computers to have high bandwidth connections for real time information gathering and collaboration. In addition to the technology advances that make users need to wear computers in everyday life, there is also the desire to have users want to wear their computers. In order to do this, wearable computing needs to be unobtrusive and socially acceptable. By making wearables smaller and lighter, or actually embedding them in clothing, users can conceal them easily and wear them comfortably. The military is currently working on the development of the Personal Information Carrier (PIC) or digital dog tag. The PIC is a small electronic storage device containing medical information about the wearer. While old military dog tags contained only 5 lines of information, the digital tags may contain volumes of multi-media information including medical history, X-rays, and cardiograms. Using hand held devices in the field, medics would be able to call this information up in real time for better treatment. A fully functional transmittable device is still years off, but this technology once developed in the military, could be adapted tp civilian users and provide ant information, medical or otherwise, in a portable, not obstructive, and fashionable way. Another future device that could increase safety and well being of its users is the nose on-a-chip developed by the Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. This tiny digital silicon chip about the size of a dime, is capable of 'smelling' natural gas leaks in stoves, heaters, and other appliances. It can also detect dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. This device can also be configured to notify the fire department when a leak is detected. This nose chip should be commercially available within 2 years, and is inexpensive, requires low power, and is very sensitive. Along with gas detection capabilities, this device may someday also be configured to detect smoke and other harmful gases. By embedding this chip into workers uniforms, name tags, etc., this could be a lifesaving computational accessory. In addition to the future safety technology soon to be available as accessories are devices that are for entertainment and security. The LCI computer group is developing a Smartpen, that electronically verifies a user's signature. With the increase in credit card use and the rise in forgeries, is the need for commercial industries to constantly verify signatures. This Smartpen writes like a normal pen but uses sensors to detect the motion of the pen as the user signs their name to authenticate the signature. This computational accessory should be available in 1999, and would bring increased peace of mind to consumers and vendors alike. In the entertainment domain, Panasonic is creating the first portable hand-held DVD player. This device weight less than 3 pounds and has a screen about 6' across. The color LCD has the same 16:9 aspect ratio of a cinema screen and supports a high resolution of 280,000 pixels and stereo sound. The player can play standard DVD movies and has a hour battery life for mobile use. To summarize, in this paper we presented concepts related to the design and use of wearable computers with extensions to smart spaces. For some time, researchers in telerobotics have used computer graphics to enhance remote scenes. Recent advances in augmented reality displays make it possible to enhance the user's local environment with 'information'. As shown in this paper, there are many application areas for this technology such as medicine, manufacturing, training, and recreation. Wearable computers allow a much closer association of information with the user. By embedding sensors in the wearable to allow it to see what the user sees, hear what the user hears, sense the user's physical state, and analyze what the user is typing, an intelligent agent may be able to analyze what the user is doing and try to predict the resources he will need next or in the near future. Using this information, the agent may download files, reserve communications bandwidth, post reminders, or automatically send updates to colleagues to help facilitate the user's daily interactions. This intelligent wearable computer would be able to act as a personal assistant, who is always around, knows the user's personal preferences and tastes, and tries to streamline interactions with the rest of the world.

  • PDF