Paper on WEARABLE ELECTRONICS

ABSTRACT
As technologies change, so will clothing. Also called smart clothing, wearable computers, e-textiles, intelligent textiles and flexible electronics, wearable electronics defined as electronics worn on or attached to the human body. Though hand held gadgets rule the world presently, the next step to total connectivity and personal computing is a no-hands, intelligent system that will work in sync with our actions and network with other smart applications. There are many types of wearable sensors being developed like bending sensor, acceleration sensor and push switch etc., This paper explains about how smart clothes are fabricated and how they are used in real-time applications along with an application implemented. These electronics are highly helpful in bio-telemetry (using by NASA), motion gesture (Animation ) and many more. I have used the basic

type of wearable sensors to make wireless Braille key-pad1 to help the blind to type in computer. Here we design a new module which seems worth while to make less expensive and light accessible and usable to all blind users. There were instruments like 8-key keyboard , Sensor Braille Keyboard, Braille keyboard and many more to help the blind, but none of them achieved expectations due to its artificiality, more learning time, practice, high error factor and cost. The device consists of a pair of gloves having wearable sensors connecting PC through RF wireless transmission. The gloves consisting of sensors on each finger which can be easily accessible by touch of thumb finger. By simply activating the sensors combination of Braille characters is achieved and its decoded by the decoder to display the alphabets or numeric on computer screen. For verification a voice back-up is also provided from computer. Use of gloves gives naturality to our device. Since blind too can touch their finger tips without any difficulty with high accuracy. Only difference is the sensors sits between the fingers and makes the job done. It is highly recommended since no extra training needed for visually impaired as they are already aware of Braille language. With in less time of use high accuracy can be achieved.

INTRODUCTION
Wearable computers and affective computing is becoming one of the most interesting and complicated topics of computer human interaction. It involves various fields of study, such as computer science, psychology and physiology. Even though the literature on the subject is still at its primal stages, many projects are underway to discover the link between psychological states and physiological responses of the human body. These are the most recent studies that, NASA and the MIT Labs for instance, have been embarking on. Wearable electronics defined as electronics worn on or attached to the human body. But when they are going to be in touch with skin its most essential that wires must be properly insulated and the devices used be very flexible. However, the subjects of the experiments are usually covered with multiple wires to register every little change that occurs on their bodies while they are performing a series of psychological and physiological tasks. The need to make those sensors less intrusive as possible has given affective computing a new goal: wireless wearable sensors.

HOW DO CLOTHES CONDUCT?

Integrating electronics into clothing is a major new concept, which opens up a whole array of multi-functional, wearable electro-textiles for sensing/monitoring body functions, delivering communication facilities, data transfer, individual environment control etc

Some studies have concentrated on creating sensors that could be inserted in pieces of clothing and finding presentable fabrics that can hide the wires and sensors. Others have stressed the incorporation of the sensors into everyday gadgets, such as backpacks or watches. All the projects related to this topic seem to have in common the problem of adding stress and the feeling of uneasiness during experiments. The materials investigated are metal yarn, yarn containing conductive fibers like stainless steel mixed with natural or synthetic fibers, or carbon coated threads. Some other conductive textiles
like Flectron (metallised polyester), Belltron (Polyimide with carbon) and CT(carbonized glass fiber textile.)

TYPES OF SENSORS
There are many types of sensors being developed like Bending sensor, acceleration sensor, push switch, and all types of medical sensors that can get the data as well as to transmit to nearest possible processing server. Wearable sensors are having high weight in bio medical sensing. Wearable sensor and information technology can have a positive impact on human state of health assessment.

APPLICATIONS
Bio Telemetry
In bio-telemetry wearable sensors are extensively experimented by NASA for its feasibility and comfort to astronauts. The same can be extended to patients who can be remote organized by doctors and for continuously monitoring their heart rate, temperature etc.,

Wearable Sensors to Improve Soldier Post-Action Reports

A soldiers after-action mission report can sometimes leave out vital observations and experiences that could be valuable in planning future operations. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is exploring the use of soldier-worn sensors and recorders to augment a soldiers recall and reporting capability. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is acting as an independent evaluator for the Advanced Soldier Sensor Information System and Technology (ASSIST) project. NIST researchers are designing tests to measure the technical capability of such information gathering devices. Sensor system software is expected to extract keywords and create an indexed multimedia representation of information collected by different soldiers. For comparison purposes, the soldiers wearing the sensors will make an after-action report based on memory and then supplement that afteraction report with information learned from the sensor data.

Animation making
Current technology used for animation making is highly expensive and prolonged time taking. Using wearable sensors it made more easier. The IGS-190 is the worlds easiest, most lifelike motion capture system. With a learning curve of only five minutes, this product requires little or no calibration and yet delivers ultra clean data with little or no clean up. The resulting data efficiency dwarfs every other motion capture system.

Eighteen tiny inertial sensors or gyros attach to a flexible lycra suit and allow superior precision and stability of motion data. Coupled with our advanced Gypsy software which has been perfected over 8 years of development, the new GypsyGyro-18/IGS-190 allows more applications than ever before with pin-point global accuracy.

The various advantages over other methods

1. Minimal data cleaning Straight from capture to content creation or live performance. Save thousands of hours of data cleanup each year. 2. Life-like motion data Unbelievable character nuance. What you capture is what you keep. Wave goodbye to data stiffening in post-production. 3. Occlusion Free No occlusions or marker swapping and none of the data tagging issues associated with optical or magnetic systems. 4. No training Simple user guide will have you capturing super-accurate motion within 5 minutes. 5. No calibration From briefcase to capture in minutes

MY APPLICATION (Wearable-Sensor Based Wireless Braille Natural Key-pad)

I modified and implemented a paper to construct an input device to computers for visually challenged using a special type of sensors called as wearable sensors. Here we design a new module which seems worth while to make less expensive and light accessible and usable to all blind users. There were many instruments like 8-key keyboard , Sensor Braille Keyboard, Braille keyboard and many more to help the blind, but none of them achieved expectations due to its artificiality, more learning time, practice, high error factor and cost. The device consists of a pair of gloves having wearable sensors connecting PC through RF wireless transmission. The gloves consisting of sensors on each finger which can be easily accessible by touch of thumb finger. To know the logic of the design it is must to be aware of Braille language. Braille generally consists of cells of 6 raised dots arranged in a grid of two dots horizontally by three dots. In Braille language every character including symbols, numbers are represented by using only six raised dots.

My model suggests the gloves having six sensors on each finger resembling each dot in Braille character. When the respective keys are activated by simply a touch with in the delay it sends the data to the microcontroller to decode and send to the PC which prints on the screen.

WHATS NEW?
The concept is old but the technology is new. Wearable sensors, as name suggests the sensors fabricated in the textiles to make it flexible and simple usage. These sensors are undergoing research& development by major organisations like NASA, EU Commission etc.,. World is awaiting for wearable sensors to be available for commercial usage since these components are having numerous applications in bio-telemetry, animation, gesture caption, etc., we used it for Making a proto type of Braille keypad. It is also equipped with audio backup of letters typed for verification. It is very less expensive compared to other available systems.
Wearable sensors are fast undergoing research due to its comfort in keeping the electronics in touch with skin without malfunctions.

HOW COMES WORD NATURAL?

Close your eyes and touch your nose point! No doubt we touch it accurate. How comes it possible? Since we know our nose from the time we have born. The same way even visually impaired too will not find difficult in touching their fingers. Only thing is sensors sits between the fingers and make the job done. So no question of artificiality comes in way. It is possible to get best results with very little practice. Braille is aware by almost all visually impaired thus there is no need for special training about language.

MAJOR MODULES
1. Transmitter -Braille Key-Pad

2. Receiver -Decoder -Serial port communication.

TRANSMITTER
Transmitter consists of Braille key pad. We made the key pad in form of gloves which consists of wearable sensors inside on each finger resembling each dot on the Braille character. The sensors can be activated by simple touch of thumb finger. The below finger gives the proposed model of gloves.

Braille Gloves
When the corresponding key is activated it makes the combination Braille character and transmits the data which is then received by receiver connected to PC.

RECEIVER
The receiver consists of Decoder which receives the data of Braille combination. The PIC16c73 is used for decoding the received data into a alphabet or numeric. Then the decoded data is sent to PC thorough serial communication for displaying the output on the screen. Too verify the output it can be further give a audio back up to the blind using computer.

CONCLUSION
My design using gloves are easy to use with out any training. Since the blind people are aware of Braille language its not necessary to train for language. Very accurate results can be achieved with this design.

REFERENCES
1. M. Van Bavel, V. Leonov,, Sensors & Transducers 2. Forrest.M.Mims, Electronic Sensor Circuits & Projects, March 2000 3. C. S. Raghavendra, Krishna M.Sivalingam, Wireless Sensor Networks, May 2004