PRE2017 4 Groep1

Group members

Thomas Boot	0988095	Industrial Engineering
Jelte Dirks	0908196	Computer Science and Engineering
Maurits van Riezen	1050246	Software Science
Linh Tran	0936651	Electrical Engineering
Roan Weterings	0888129	Psychology and Technology

Planning

The most recent Gantt chart has the most recent approach, planning, milestones, deliverables and task-division overview.

File:OGO Robots Everywhere Gantt V1.pdf

File:OGO Robots Everywhere Gantt V2.pdf

Week 1: The Plan

Deliverables & Milestones Week 1

Deliverables:

• Problem Statement and Objectives
• Users
• User Requirements/Needs
• Approach, Milestones, Deliverables
• Task Division
• State of the Art Literature Study (at least 25 scientific papers/patents)
• Wiki Update

Milestones:

• Research Non-Invasive Sensors
• Research Invasive Sensors
• Research User Needs, Extreme Sports
• Research Wearable
• Research User Needs, Space Exploration

Brainstorm

Festival	Smartwear bag with necessities for First Aid and Organisation personnel. Drone will automatically bring new supplies when necessary.
Extreme Sports/Exploration	Smartwear monitors health, etc. Drone will fly in to bring First aid equipment for self-help, location data will be used to send First Aid personnel if necessary.
Cameraman	Smartwear monitors heartrate of many or all people at an event. A location with the highest average heartrate has the most exciting event. The drone will fly to the most exciting event to film footage.
Police aid	Drone can fly around for easy patrolling, the drone can be sent to a specific location as a scout, the drone has an easier time chasing someone.
Shock band (unethical)	People who leave trash anywhere but a recycling bin will get a small shock. The band has an NFC chip for payments within the event so people will wear and use it, eliminating the hassle with plastic chips and coins as well.

Literature Research/State of the Art

User needs, Extreme Sports

Extreme sports in Extreme conditions

Dr. M. Malashenkova (2016), exercise physiologist, has given a definition of extreme sports: “The definition “Extreme” in relation to sport is performed in a hazardous environment and involves great risk. In the modern world of extreme sports, a number of factors require an athlete to have maximum concentration, cope with the stress and physical and emotional mobilisation capabilities. Common to all of these sports are risk-taking, pushing limits (physical and legal) and having fun.” As extreme sports, she recognises: “trekking, paragliding, rock climbing, mountain bike, snorkeling, hot air ballooning, hand gliding, wind surfing, canoeing, sailing, skydiving, surfing, bungee jumping, scuba diving, snowboarding, and skiing” (Malashenkova, 2016). These sports are practiced in a wide variety of locations and in a wide variety of extreme natural conditions to do with “hypoxia, altitude, speed, atmospheric pressure, wind, and temperature”. Some people are capable of adapting to these extreme conditions by increasing functional reserves, though it is unclear if everyone can adapt to such extremes. When conducting research in this area, special attention should be given to safety, medical monitoring, and psychological testing of participants (Malashenkova, 2016).

Sports in extreme conditions: the impact of exercise in cold temperatures on asthma and bronchial hyper-responsiveness in athletes (only abstract available)

Athletes performing outdoor endurance winter sports frequently report exercise-induced asthma (EIA) and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR). EIA is likely caused by the increase in breathing rate; water and heat loss are elevated, and in combination with the increased breathing rate can lead to inflammation of the airways. This can lead to increased parasympathetic nervous activity, likely leading to BHR. Sporters in these conditions ought to be regularly assessed in terms of lung function and BHR. These conditions can be alleviated or cured with medicinal treatment (Carlsen, 2012).

Extreme sports: Extreme physiology. Exercise‐induced pulmonary oedema (only abstract available)

During an extreme triathlon event in australia, certain participants were afflicted with dyspnoea (shortness of breath for an abnormal duration), haemoptysis (coughing up blood), and pulmonary oedema (fluid accumulation in the lungs) (Ma and Dutch, 2013).

Sports and extreme conditions. Cardiovascular incidence in long term exertion and extreme temperatures (heat, cold) (only abstract available)

Extreme sports tend to result in a higher body temperature and more sweating, which can result in dehydration and therefore a lower blood volume. This dehydration can also lead to an inability to regulate body temperature leading to thermal stress and injury such as heat stroke. Extended periods of sweating can lead to hyponatremia; decreased sodium concentration in one’s blood, leading to headaches, nausea, balancing issues, confusion, seizures and coma. Chances of thermal stress due to heat (hyperthermia) can be increased by a hot environment, as well as elevated levels of air humidity. Cold temperatures can result in hypothermia and frostbite (Melin and Savourey, 2001).

Emerging Environmental and Weather Challenges in Outdoor Sports

Because of climate change effects seen around the globe, current advice concerning extreme sports in extreme environments may well have become insufficient. plain weather indications no longer allow for an accurate estimation of heat or cold related illnesses and injuries. Several environmental and weather challenges include:

• Heat (treat heat related illnesses by developing cardiorespiratory fitness, using pre-cooling and ingestion of cold air, water or ice, acclimatization, and hydration and salt balance strategies)
• Ultraviolet exposure (skin cancers and sunburn, use sunscreen and UVR (Ultra Violet Ray) protective textiles.)
• Lightning (lethal injuries, use weather reports, taking shelter if necessary)
• Air pollution (deteriorating lung functionality, inflammation, immune system issues, bronchitis, asthma, etc.) (higher fitness level, train away from cars)
• Cold (hypothermia, frostbite, asthma, cardiovascular events, hallucinations, exacerbation through hypoxia, use protective clothing to prevent heat loss, no constricting clothing)
• Altitude (lower or higher pressure, hypoxia, high altitude sicknesses: pulmonary edema, cerebral edema. Use altitude acclimatization.)
• Snow and avalanche (asphyxia, compression, hypercapnia, hypoxia, use education, safety gears)
• Exercise induced asthma and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (use pollen distribution forecasts, antihistamines, immunotherapy, air acclimatisation gear (for cold air))

(Brocherie, Girard and Millet, 2015).

Extreme Sports: Injuries and Medical Coverage

Common injuries sustained from extreme sports include: head injury, wrist injury, fractures, internal injuries, microtrauma to the scrotum, ankle injury, knee injury, overuse injury, stress fractures, ligament and tendon injury, finger injury, concussion, abdominal injury, sunburn, dehydration, hyponatremia, and sleep deprivation. Some new extreme sports even include marathons on the south pole, or in the desert. Protective gear is advised to help alleviate some risk factors. There is a need for better medical coverage, better design of protective equipment, and assistance in event planning. currently it is difficult to handle injuries during a race, and equally difficult to arrange evacuations, because medical personnel needs the same advanced skills as the participants to reach them (Young, 2002).

Extreme Sports as a Precursor to Environmental Sustainability

Extreme sports gained a reputation for being for risk seeking adrenaline junkies, without much recognition for how extreme sports influence one’s relationship with the natural world. The reason to participate in extreme sports is not as shallow as just the adrenaline rush; they trigger deep personal changes in courage and humility amongst other construct (Brymer and Oades, 2009). The emphasis lies on how the sports change the relationship with nature, and how it is experienced (Brymer, Downey and Gray, 2009).

Performing in extreme sports works as a demonstration of human power, resilience, and robustness, which is done because society makes people feel powerless and insignificant. (Le Breton, 2000; Palmer, 2000). According to people in favour of ecopsychology, activities in nature are beneficial to psychological well being. They help kickstart combating environmental problems because they increase interest in the natural world beyond seeing it as a mere resource. This is because these activities help us recognise and realise we are part of the natural world, which helps people to actually adopt more environmentally sustainable practices (Brymer, Downey and Gray, 2009). This means participating in extreme sports would be beneficial to society, the environment, and individuals; provided it can be done in a safer or more controlled manner.

The extreme sports experience: A research report

Participants of extreme sports tend to report 5 main aspects of and/or reasons for participating; Commitment and skill (high levels of preparation and practice) Defining the boundaries (high risk, limited outcome possibilities) On risk (labeling them as risk or thrill seekers is “missing the point”) Feelings of accomplishment and personal insight (“empowering and making life easier to deal with Extraordinary experiences akin to Maslow’s peak experiences (“altered perceptions of time and space, floating and flying, calm and stillness, and self validation experiences” The conclusion is that extreme sports are not about risk taking, according to participants (Brymer, 2009).

Summarised User needs:

• Experiencing raw, awe-inspiring nature
• Proving one's own skills to oneself
• Acquiring mental health benefits
• Being reached by First aid in an easier way
• Less risk of:
  • Altitude/Atmospheric pressure
  • Temperature
  • Hypoxia/Hypercapnnia
  • Exercise-induced Asthma/Broncial Hyperresponsiveness
  • Dyspnoea
  • Haemoptysis
  • Pulmonary oedema
  • Hyponatremia
  • Injuries and Fractrures

References

Brocherie, F., Girard, O., & Millet, G. P. (2015). Emerging environmental and weather challenges in outdoor sports. Climate, 3(3), 492-521.

Brymer, E. (2009). The extreme sports experience: a research report. IFPRA world, 6-7.

Brymer, E., Downey, G., & Gray, T. (2009). Extreme sports as a precursor to environmental sustainability. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 14(2-3), 193-204.

Carlsen, K. H. (2012). Sports in extreme conditions: the impact of exercise in cold temperatures on asthma and bronchial hyper-responsiveness in athletes. Br J Sports Med, 46(11), 796-799.

Ma, J. L. G., & Dutch, M. J. (2013). Extreme sports: Extreme physiology. Exercise‐induced pulmonary oedema. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 25(4), 368-371.

Malashenkova, M. (2016, October). Extreme sports in Extreme conditions. Paper presented at ITP Sport, Exercise & Health Research Symposium, Institute of Sport & Adventure (ISA), Otago Polytechnic (OP).

Melin, B., & Savourey, G. (2001). Sports and extreme conditions. Cardiovascular incidence in long term exertion and extreme temperatures (heat, cold). La Revue du praticien, 51(12 Suppl), S28-30.

Young, C. C. (2002). Extreme sports: injuries and medical coverage. Current sports medicine reports, 1(5), 306-311.

User needs, Space Exploration

Space psychology and psychiatry

Common health problems in space with some degree of relevance to our subject include:

• Visual Illusions
  • Microgravity causes astronauts often mistake stationary objects as moving, as well as being unable to judge their own movement accurately. This is probably of no relevance on mars considering mars has some gravity. This effect usually lasts between a couple hours and a month at max.
• Error proneness
  • A significant factor is difficulty with hand-eye coordination due to low gravity. We have never been to mars, but this may also be an issue on mars with some, but unusual gravity
  • A different issue is sleep deprivation, caused possibly by a upset cartesian rhythm. Sleep medication is the second most used type of medication on the ISS, after motion sickness medication.
  • The consistent high-stress of the work of the space-explorers may also be a factor
• Somatoform disorders
• (Possibly psychological) Muscle weakness

(Kanas and Manzey, 2008).

Could this be the first mars airplane?

This article details a SOTA airplane, the “Prandtl”, optimized for autonomous flight on Mars. It is a fixed-wing vehicle and not a helicopter-like drone. While the project is still in development, the goal is to make it able to fly for 5 hours, giving it a range of 165 km. However, the next planned test model has a max flight time of only 10 minutes, with a range of 32km. The plane is planned to fly to mars around 2020-2022. The entire design is mostly optimized for gliding and for maximal range needs to be launched from a high altitude, though there is no reason why a more powerful engine could not be attached to a similar design (Levine and Conner, 2017; Gibbs, 2016).

Helicopter could be ‘Scout’ for mars rover This article has some information about a test for a helicopter on mars. It would be used to scout an area for rovers to explore later. There is a functional proof-of-concept. The device would weigh 1 kg and with a have a distance of 1.1 meter from one blade tip to the other (Landau, 2015).

Safe passage: Astronaut care for exploration missions

This article claims safety and health issues are the greatest problem preventing exploration of deep space. Major space-related problems include:

• Bone loss
  • also, astronauts break bones or sprain joints sometimes due to heavy objects moving through 0 gravity, slamming themselves into walls, or other problems related to low gravity. A average of 0.44 bone breaks or joint sprains are recorded per 14 days on space shuttles.
  • Second most common on the russian MIR, with 32 incidents
• Cardiovascular Alterations
  • 0.02 incidents every 14 days during space shuttle program
  • The most common problem on the russian MIR, with 32 incidents total
• Reduced performance
• Neurological and sensing problems
  • One incident every 14 days on average on the space shuttle
  • “headache” is the third most common incident on the russian MIR, with 17 incidents.
• Immune system problems
  • probably links to the various other problems, but not directly measurable
• Insomnia
  • 13 incidents on the russian MIR
• Muscle problems
• Neuro Vestibular Adaptation (Motion Sickness)
  • By far the most common problem on the space shuttle, with a average of 2.4 incidents every 14 days.
• Radiation effects
• Hearing problems
• Clinical Capability
  • Exposure to toxins
  • Altered drug reactions
  • Illness
  • Decompression

Most common problems are motion sickness, nasal congestion, and sleep disorders. A interesting observation is that astronauts die disproportionally often in car crashes. The most common medical procedures performed on submarines are:

• Wound care
• Suturing
• Cleansing
• Nail removal
• Fluorescein eye examination
• Incision and drainage of abscess
• Tooth restoration

(Ball and Evans, 2001).

There is a lot more date in this article about procedures on submarines and antarctic bases. A very useful source for later.

References

Ball, JR & Evans, CH (2001) Safe Passage: Astronaut Care for Exploration Missions. Washington DC, NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS

Gibbs, Y. (2017, May 11). Prandtl-D Aircraft. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-106-AFRC.html

Kanas, N, & Manzey, D (2008). Space Psychology and Psychiatry. Springer Dordrecht.

Landau, E. (2015, January 22). Helicopter Could Be 'Scout' for Mars Rovers. Retrieved from https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4457

Levine, J, & Conner, M. (2017, June 29). Could This Become The First Mars Airplane? Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/mars_airplane.html

Constraints, Smart Wear

A review of wearable sensors and systems with application in rehabilitation

Because health care system in the US is not equally distributed across the areas of interest in which health care is needed the most, it becomes increasingly attractive to bring the health care inside the homes of patients. A combination of both ambient and wearable sensor technology would provide the means necessary to bring health care inside the homes of people across the globe. The application of the sensors can be categorized as follows:

• health and wellness monitoring
• safety monitoring
• home rehabilitation
• assessment of treatment efficacy
• early detection of disorders

Concluding, the step towards home monitoring and home rehabilitation creates interest into designing and developing wearable sensors and system that provide data and assist remotely (Patel, Park, Bonato, Chan and Rodgers, 2012).

Relevance for our objective: Several wearable sensors mentioned can be applied to extreme sporting wearables in order to facilitate monitoring of the condition of extreme sporters.

Sustainable Wearables: Wearable Technology for Enhancing the Quality of Human Life

Wearables are to be separated from portable devices. Up until recently, wearable devices have provided data, and have not been purposed for assisting the user with other tasks or provide services that go beyond merely showing numbers on a screen. Technologies for sustainable wearables as listed in the article are “Human Data Tracking”, “Human Big Data Analyzing”, “IoT” and “Middleware for Wearables”. As technology has advanced, wearable devices have become smaller and increasingly wireless, providing the user with less fatigue and skin trouble, and the possibility of embedding wearables in smart clothes. Due to the rising possibilities in wearables, data is collected on a massive scale. This data should not be collected just for the sake of collecting data, yet analysed and presented to the user in a meaningful and useful way… wearables have to become “aware-ables”. Currently, wearable devices do not provide this functionality and only show the user his/her own data, aggregated and crammed into a nice diagram or graph. This is where the Internet of Things comes in. IoT, making use of wireless connections, is capable of analysing multiple data sets simultaneously, cross referencing between different inputs, and provide the user with meaningful information that the user can apply to his/her life. Making use of cloud processing, data can be collected at one specific location and processed remotely, before being sent back to the user to be displayed. There are several factors that improve wearable quality of life, prolonged and continuous usage:

• un-monopolizing
• unrestrictive
• observable
• attentive
• communicative
• cost effective
• low power
• durable
• scalable

(Lee, Kim, Ryoo and Shin, 2016)

Relevance for our objective: A clear indication to what is wrong with the current wearable technologies that are being put forward, with a specific problem description and solution. This review and it’s sources provide meaningful guidelines to develop wearable tech that actually provides the user with useful information.

Non-invasive wearable electrochemical sensors: a review

As chemical sensor used to be invasive, wearable chemical sensor were absent in on-body sensing technology departments. As electrochemical sensor are becoming increasingly non-invasive, they find their place in wearable devices and applications such as health-care, sport and military. The specific type of sensors make use of either sweat, tears or saliva, and require (obviously) direct contact with one of the aforementioned fluids. A benefit of these sensors that make use of bodily fluids is that they can continuously provide information about the status of the actor wearing the device. It should be noted that the recognition element is not similar for the types of bodily fluids tested, and therefore, to have the full range of elements recognised, all three bodily fluids should optimally be used while sensing (Bandodkar and Wang, 2014).

Relevance for our objectives: Non invasive way of sensing chemical homeostatic properties of a subject. Can be worn without obstructing extreme sport athletes.

Hybrid System of Electro-Textile based wearable Microstrip Patch Antenna with Tuning Holes

A patch that can be sewn into textile which can emit radio frequencies (Ullah and Baghel, 2015).

Relevance for our objectives: Data collected can be transmitted using this patch. Possibly to phone to relay the data to a specific server.

Flexible and stretchable electronics for wearable healthcare

The market for wearable electronics is growing rapidly, which requires changes in how electronics can be worn around the body. There are several technologies that provide a solution. OLAE, or organic and large area electronics uses thin foils made of PET or PEN onto which conductive “ink” is printed. These foils with printed “ink” form a PCB of no more than 50μm. Layering these separate PCB can produce complex but flexible PCBs. Although, more complex wearable devices might need even thinner chips. Another method of creating these small circuit boards is printing thin-film metals like copper, gold or platinum on polyimide layers. The metallization can be as thin as 1 μm, resulting in the device having a total thickness of about 70 μm (van den Brand et al., 2014).

Not only the thickness and flexibility is an issue when it comes to wearables. Flexibility is another key factor in comfortable wearable design. To provide this attribute, the meander strategy can be applied. Electronic functionality is hereby distributed onto several islands that are connected by meander-shaped interconnects, and embedded onto a stretchable rubber. The meander shaped connectives can stretch -to a certain extent- and provide flexible circuitry options (van den Brand et al., 2014).

In summary: with the ultra-thin processing units that are stretchable -to a certain extent- wearable are able to make real time computations.

Relevance for our objectives: Makes it very easy to integrate processing units into clothes that are comfortable to wear. Wearable sensor can make use of on body computations to provide real time processed information that is of actual use to the wearer.

Micro-Drone for Gas Measurement in Hazardous Scenarios via Remote Sensing

As gas releases, whether they are volitional, meant to do harm, or mother nature, become more prevalent, devices to detect such releases are no unwanted luxury. By combining a drone with gas measurement equipment, gases can be detected from a safe distance. In order to achieve this functionality, the drone makes use of techniques common in nature known as”plume tracking” or “odor-source localization”. The measuring techniques have been tested in both a test chamber, with two standard measurement devices as reference, as well as a field test in a volcanic crater on Lanzarote. The test chamber experiment provided near perfect results compared to the reference devices. The test inside the Lanzarote volcanic crater provided successful results as well, showing a significant low concentration of SO2, a typical volcanic gas. To summarize: the combination of drones and gas measurement devices provide safe possibilities to detect airborne hazards (Bartholmai and Neumann, 2010).

Relevance for our objectives: Detection of extraterrestrial airborne hazards, as well as safe areas and measurement tactics for extreme sporting areas such as high altitudes or remote locations.

References

Bandodkar, A. J., & Wang, J. (2014). Non-invasive wearable electrochemical sensors: a review. Trends in biotechnology, 32(7), 363-371.

Bartholmai, M., & Neumann, P. (2010). Micro-drone for gas measurement in hazardous scenarios via remote sensing. In Proceedings of.

van den Brand, J., de Kok, M., Sridhar, A., Cauwe, M., Verplancke, R., Bossuyt, F., ... & Vanfleteren, J. (2014, September). Flexible and stretchable electronics for wearable healthcare. In Solid State Device Research Conference (ESSDERC), 2014 44th European (pp. 206-209). IEEE.

Lee, J., Kim, D., Ryoo, H. Y., & Shin, B. S. (2016). Sustainable wearables: wearable technology for enhancing the quality of human life. Sustainability, 8(5), 466.

Patel, S., Park, H., Bonato, P., Chan, L., & Rodgers, M. (2012). A review of wearable sensors and systems with application in rehabilitation. Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, 9(1), 21.

Ullah, S. U., & Baghel, R. K. (2015, October). Hybrid system of electro-textile based wearable microstrip patch antenna with tuning holes. In Soft Computing Techniques and Implementations (ICSCTI), 2015 International Conference on (pp. 135-139). IEEE.

Sensors, Non-Invasive

Non-Invasive Electromagnetic Skin Patch Sensor to Measure Intracranial Fluid–Volume Shifts

Elevated intracranial fluid volume (e.g. a rise in fluids inside your head) can cause intracranial pressure to increase. This is extremely dangerous because this can lead to numerous neurological consequences (i.e. a stroke) or even death. A passive, non-invasive skin patch sensor for the head allows this volume to be measured. The sensor consists of only one baseline component, that is shaped into a rectangular planar spiral. This spiral has a self-resonant frequency response when influenced by external radio frequencies. Any fluid volume change of 10 mL increments can be detected, even through your cranial bone. This has been tested on a dry human skull model, as well as in preliminary human tests. Both have proven successful. In the human tests, two sensors have been used, in order to check the feasibility of using this method in the complex environment that is the human body. For both the dry cranial model and the human tests, the correlation between actual fluid volume changes and the first resonance frequency of the sensor have been determined. Both were high, indicating that the sensor reliably measures any fluid shifts. In short, this electromagnetic resonant sensor might be implemented to prevent strokes, hemorrhages and other neurological consequences (Griffith et al., 2018).

Relevance for our objective: Inserting such a sensor in, for example, a suit might monitor the cerebral conditions of extreme sporters. In such environment, the users need reassurance and constant monitoring of their main bodily functions. Especially in extreme cold or heat, the body might get affected. This sensor monitors whether the sporter suffers from cranial deficiencies.

Autonomous smartwatch with flexible sensors for accurate and continuous mapping of skin temperature

Epidermal sensors that are closely contacted with the skin can monitor cardiovascular health, electrophysiology and dermatology with high precision and in a non-invasive manner. This research has proposed a ultra-low power smartwatch connected to flexible solar modules and a row of epidermal heat sensors. This functions wirelessly and energetically autonomous. Preliminary experiments show how this device is perfect for long-term, precise and non-stop monitoring of the skin temperature (Magno, 2016).

Relevance for our objective: Especially for extreme sporters, but practically for any human in extreme conditions, it is imperative they stay on temperature. This device is easy to use, needs no recharging, and constantly monitors their temperature. It could alert the person when they are getting dangerously cold/ hot, such that this person can take preventive actions. The only environmental constraint is that there has to be adequate sunlight to keep the watch powered. This might be a point of improvement.

Device for generating a detectable signal based upon concentration of at least one substance

This patents proposes a contact device which can be played on the eye, in order to detect physical and chemical parameters in a non-invasive way. Using electromagnetic waves, infrared waves and other, this device can scan the cornea to determine for example the oxygen level in your blood. The blood analysis is performed using eyelid motion and closure of the lid to activate a microminiature radio frequency sensitive transensor. These signals are transmitted to an externally placed receiver, for example on glasses. Some of the parameters that can be monitored are heart rate, respiratory rate, ocular blood flow and blood analysis (Abreu, 2017). This patent is published September 2017, thus SotA.

Relevance for our objective: Easy to implement in a suit. Using glasses, lenses, the most important bodily function (heart rate, oxygen level, etc.) can be constantly monitored. Using lenses, the data can be sent to a smartwatch.

Rapid rate-estimation for cell phones, smart watches, occupancy, and wearables

Using a phosphor-coated broadband white LED that produces light which may be transmitted with an ambient light to a target (for example your wrist or ear), this patent can monitor your respiratory and metabolic parameters and transmit this data to your mobile device or other wearable devices. The transmitted light is scattered and passes through a spectral filter. Based on the waveband/ wavelength range, the detected light may be analyzed to determine vital body functions (such a body fat, heart rate, respiratory functions, etc.) (Benaron, 2015).

Relevance for our objective: This is similar to the user needs for the previous patent. Constant reassurance and preventive measure of vital functions is imperative to ensure the safety of sporters/ astronauts.

Wearable sensors and systems

Connected health has increasingly become a topic of interest. This refers to the use of sensors to monitor patients health. Hybrid systems integrating wireless and e-textile technologies are becoming the application to go to. For example, movement sensors can be strapped to the patients wrists or chest and gather data, which in turn can be send via GPS to caregivers or relatives. The progress of technology has enabled these sensors to be incorporated into clothing, such that a jogger can monitor its heart rate simply by wearing the appropriate shirt. This can be combined with robotics (rehabilitation robotics for example). The use of sensorized gloves improves the robotic therapy that goes paired with stroke rehabilitation. In short, this paper shows how technology is enough developed to implement sensors in daily devices, and that data collected can be used to drive robotic devices and improve customer service (Bonato, 2010).

Relevance for our objective: This paper shows exactly what we aim to develop. Equipping people with sensors that can transmit data to a drone when approaching critical conditions is not impossible anymore. This drone can the use GPS tracking to determine where the patient is, what bodily functions are irregular and provide preliminary care. This gives allerted rescue forces extra time, and provides them with accurate data on the condition of the patient. This reduces the time it takes for effective healthcare to be implemented and might thus increase the lives that are being rescued in time.

References

Abreu, M. M., (2017). U.S. Patent No. 15/602523. Tortola: Geelux Holdings Ltd.

Benaron, D. A., (2015). U.S. Patent No. 14/864,860. San Francisco: AliphCom

Bonato, P., (2010). Wearable Sensors and systems. 25-36

Griffith, J., Cluff, K., Eckerman, B., Aldrich, J., Becker, R., Moore-Jansen, P., & Patterson, J. (2018). Non-Invasive Electromagnetic Skin Patch Sensor to Measure Intracranial Fluid–Volume Shifts. Sensors, 18(4), 1022.

Magno, M., Salvatore, G. A., Mutter, S., Farrukh, W., Troester, G., & Benini, L. (2016, May). Autonomous smartwatch with flexible sensors for accurate and continuous mapping of skin temperature. In Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), 2016 IEEE International Symposium on (pp. 337-340). IEEE.

Sensors, Invasive

Calibration of Minimally Invasive Continuous Glucose Monitoring Sensors: State-of-The-Art and Current Perspectives

350 million people around the world have diabetes. This chronic disorder requires continuous monitoring. Traditionally, this was done by taking a finger prick everytime. Currently, many patients still use this method.

In the recent years, researchers have developed a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which is able to continuously measure the glucose level in the blood. Also this method is invasive, but does not require the user to give themselves a shot everytime it is needed. The current CGM products need to be replaced after several days, but are able to give the information at any time. This device can be placed in the arm or in the abdomen. It is not bulky and clothes can easily hide it. The CGM measures a current signal generated by the glucose-oxidase reaction, transmitting information on glucose concentration in the interstitial fluid (Acciaroli, Vettoretti, Facchinetti, and Sparacino, 2018). The SotA CGM sensor has some room for improvement in accuracy and reliability. This is due to the fact that the signal only indirectly reflect the glucose concentration. The signal is derived from the glucose oxidase electrochemical reaction.

The SotA CGM have no “smart” aspect. However, attempts have been made by Lee et al, who wanted to personalise the data by capturing the essential cyclic nature by exploiting e.g. data from prior weeks so the calibration time would decrease.

Wearable and Implantable Sensors: The Patient’s Perspective

A study has been done on a target group above 18 years or older regarding their perspective on wearable and implantable sensors. When participants (turned out to be mainly British) were asked if they suffered from any medical condition, the majority mentioned some type of arthritis (52%). The second most common answer given was hypertension (12%), followed by asthma (11%) and diabetes (10%) (Bergmann, Chandaria, McGregor, 2012). Of all responders, 27% had prior knowledge of wearable sensors. However, only 5% have ever experienced with these devices. These experiences related mainly to heart problems (e.g., pacemaker) and diabetes (e.g., insulin pump). Data showed that the responders would prefer a small, discreet and unobtrusive system with many people referring back to everyday objects. The majority (~85%) preferred the sensors to be non-invasive. However, many of this group (~95%) would wear an invasive device when life saving situations come into play. This topic was repeated in the closed-ended section, without fellow-up items and rephrased as implantable sensor. When the participants were asked where they would like to wear the device 85% answered external, 10.5% said internal and 4.5% left it blank. A median annual spend of £50 was found for the biotechnology that related to their own preference. A total of 62% of the people were willing to wear the device for more than 20 h a day. However, 37% expected it to have a battery life of more than 6 months. The placement of the technology on or in the body is expected to take less than 5 min (59% of the overall number of replies) and 35% of the respondents even think it should be less than 1 min (Bergman et al., 2012).

Wearable Sensors for Remote Health Monitoring

Wearable sensors comprise different types of flexible sensors that can be integrated into textile fiber, clothes, and elastic bands or directly attached to the human body. The sensors are capable of measuring physiological signs such as electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyogram (EMG), heart rate (HR), body temperature, electrodermal activity (EDA), arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2), blood pressure (BP) and respiration rate (RR). In addition, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) based miniature motion sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetic field sensors are widely used for measuring activity related signals. Invasive sensors: rectal thermometer; unsuited for continuous monitoring purposes. Axillary (armpit, thus non-invasive) temperature measurement is more convenient compared to the above-mentioned methods, but more lossy and inaccurate (Majumder, Mondal and Deen, 2017).

Measurement and Geometric Modelling of Human Spine Posture for Medical Rehabilitation Purposes Using a Wearable Monitoring System Based on Inertial Sensors

Inertial sensors have been used to measure spinal motion, making the data intuitive and user-friendly for the clinicians and patients who use the system. The data can be transformed into meaningful parameters such as rotation, flexion-extension and lateral bending. Theobald measured cervical range of motion with inertial sensors. It was proven that they are a viable and objective method for evaluating spine shapes (Voinea, Butnariu and Mogan, 2016).

State-of-the-Art Methods for Skeletal Muscle Glycogen Analysis in Athletes—The Need for Novel Non-Invasive Techniques

Currently, the SotA methods for measuring the muscle glycogen have been mainly invasive by means of needles (Elusive Gold Standard). The latest one has been developed by Bergström and is known to cause as little damage as possible, a high quality in minimal time restraints, can take multiple biopsies from one sample and allows measurement of other outcome variables (e.g. fibre typing, muscle damage, respiration, enzyme activity, etc). There have been no non-invasive techniques, except for histochemical measurement and MRS, developed yet for this problem (Greene, Louis, Korostynska and Mason, 2017).

Novel Wireless-Communicating Textiles Made from Multi-Material and Minimally-Invasive Fibers

Current textile used as clothing are able to sense, react and conduct electricity. The next-generation will be able to perform computational operations, thus getting a dynamical role. Active functionalities in a smart textile may include power generation or storage, human interface elements, bio-sensing devices, radio frequency (RF) emission/reception, various assistive technologies such as personal emergency awareness systems and response communication (Stepan, 2014). This article describes the operation of these textiles and the use of antennas (Gorgutsa et al., 2014).

References

Acciaroli, G., Vettoretti, M., Facchinetti, A., & Sparacino, G. (2018). Calibration of Minimally Invasive Continuous Glucose Monitoring Sensors: State-of-The-Art and Current Perspectives. Biosensors, 8(1), 24.

Bergmann, J. H., Chandaria, V., & McGregor, A. (2012). Wearable and implantable sensors: the patient’s perspective. Sensors, 12(12), 16695-16709.

Gorgutsa, S., Bélanger-Garnier, V., Ung, B., Viens, J., Gosselin, B., LaRochelle, S., & Messaddeq, Y. (2014). Novel wireless-communicating textiles made from multi-material and minimally-invasive fibers. Sensors, 14(10), 19260-19274.

Greene, J., Louis, J., Korostynska, O., & Mason, A. (2017). State-of-the-Art Methods for Skeletal Muscle Glycogen Analysis in Athletes—The Need for Novel Non-Invasive Techniques. Biosensors, 7(1), 11.

Majumder, S., Mondal, T., & Deen, M. J. (2017). Wearable sensors for remote health monitoring. Sensors, 17(1), 130.

Voinea, G. D., Butnariu, S., & Mogan, G. (2016). Measurement and geometric modelling of human spine posture for medical rehabilitation purposes using a wearable monitoring system based on inertial sensors. Sensors, 17(1), 0003.

Problem Statement

Extreme sporters find themselves in dangerous situations, and are hard to reach when they are in danger. Our combination of a drone and smartwear will monitor their health, warn them in time of potential dangers, and send help when necessary.

Users

Main users/target audience: Extreme Sporters.

Generalisable to: Space/Planetary Explorers, People who would start participating in extreme sports if it were safer.

Objectives

• Creating smart sportswear with sensors to decide if there are any risks or problems
• The smartwear must be able to at least monitor the vital functions: breathing, circulation, and consciousness.
• The smartwear should be able to send preventive warnings
• The smartwear needs a location tracker (GPS), and have a microphone and speaker to be able to contact medical personnel if necessary. The drone needs a GPS, microphone, speaker, and camera in order to be eyes on site for the medical personnel.
• Time permitting a prototype and prototype app will be created.

Approach

After the literature study of week one, which lead to the concretising of the problem statement, users, objectives, and approach, the listed injuries and illnesses of week one will be turned into a list of the necessary sensors to measure the wearer. The aim of this is detecting such issues before they become a problem, and detecht them when they have become a problem. The problems using the most used sensors will be prioritised, and each week one of the most prevalent sensors will be researched, and implemented into a software and hardware prototype, and time permitting integrated into a mobile phone app. A smart flowchart will be created for the smartwear, which is to be used to detect potential and actual problems.

Week 2

Deliverables & Milestones

Deliverables:

• New design plan
• USE aspects

Milestones

• Group decisions about new design
• Research Mountaineers/Rock climbers
• Research Sensors

Design Plan

Literature Research/State of the Art

User needs, Mountaineering / Rock climbing

Rock climbing injury rates and associated risk factors in a general climbing population (abstract only)

Self-reported measures research; 4.2 injuries per 1000 climbing hours, most injuries are in the realm of overuse (93%). Inflammatory tissue damages in fingers and wrists occurred most often. Older climbers have a lower risk of re-injuring something, whereas males have the highest chances.

Limits to human performance: elevated risks on high mountains

Many mountaineers are exposed to hypoxia, cold, and dehydration. The higher the mountain the lower the success rate and the higher the chance of death upon descending. The most important limiting factor in long term sustained human inhabitation of a certain location is barometric pressure. Decreased barometric pressure leads to decreased oxygen availability, which leads to physical stress. Hypoxia and dehydration exacerbate influence of cold temperatures. Wind chills the body even faster, which under these conditions makes temperatures drop another 25 degrees centigrade.

References

Backe, S., Ericson, L., Janson, S., & Timpka, T. (2009). Rock climbing injury rates and associated risk factors in a general climbing population. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 19(6), 850-856.

Huey, R. B., & Eguskitza, X. (2001). Limits to human performance: elevated risks on high mountains. Journal of Experimental Biology, 204(18), 3115-3119.

Sensors Research

Originally, the ePatch is a concept set out to be researched by students of the “Fontys Hogeschool Techniek & Logistiek”, commissioned by the company Yellow Factory situated in Hilversum. The incentive of the research was that Yellow Factory wanted to produce a product for people who build too much tension in their shoulders and neck, resulting in tension headaches. Their intention is to give the user a patch to wear on his/her shoulder, which detects when the muscle strain is too much and then gives either haptic or visual feedback to the user to relax his/her shoulder. This in order to prevent tension headaches that result from lasting muscle tension in the trapezius muscle (neck & shoulder). In order to measure the tension on the muscles, the ePatch uses an electromyogram (EMG) meter. (Costa, Keulen & van Rijsbergen, 2016))

Relevance for our objective: The concepts we can extrapolate from this research is the EMG meter patch, which should be attached around the fingers to measure tension in the fingers. As preventing injuries is more important than healing injuries, the patch should ideally be able to give some type of feedback to the wearer until the wearer has acknowledged to the system that the feedback has been received.

References

G. Costa, V. Keulen, R. van Rijsbergen (2016), “ePatch, The Electronic Band-Aid”, research by Fontys Hogeschool Techniek & Logistiek, commissioning company: Yellow Factory

Communications Research

Communication

General purpose input/output (GPIO) pins can be used to transfer sensor information (McGrath, 2013). IEEE have developed the 1451 standard to standardise how smart systems should be embedded into larger systems. It does not specify the interfaces or define the physical connections, but USB, Ethernet and wireless 802.15.4, 802.11, and 6LoWPAN are definitely suitable (Lee, 2015). The biggest advantage of having serial connection instead of parallel is its simpler wiring and much less interaction (crosstalk) among conductors in the cable while having longer cabling (Rouse, 2011).

Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI):

• Full duplex mode: synchronous sending and receiving
• Allows communication between (digital) sensors but also between microcontroller and subsystem
• SPI is loosely defined, so many different versions are available which means some firewall cracking sometimes.
• Usually a four-wire serial communication bus, usually on a PCB, with one master device.
• 100Mbps, short-ranged
• Microwire: three-wire, signal-clock configuration, 625Kbps, short-ranged (EE Herald, 2006).
• Main application: data stream transfer

TheI2Cbus

• Facilitate low-bandwidth serial communication on same PCB
• Multi-master mode over short distances
• Two-wire bidirectional bus: one for clock signal, other for data
• 100kbps - 400kbps - 3.4Mbps
• 7-bit addresses => 128 slave devices possible
• 8th bit for writing/reading identification

Standard Wired Interfaces

Serial port transmission: one bit at the time. Used by Ethernet, FireWire and USB. The DTE (data terminal equipment) and DCE (data circuit-terminating equipment) must agree on the communication standard: transmission speed (baud rate), number of bits per character, stop and parity framing bits (McGrath, 2013).

RS-232 Used by peripheral devices: modems, mice printers +- 3 and +-15V for logical 1 and 0 to be immune against electromagnetic interference and voltage loss over long cables Virtual Serial Bus software emulation of serial port Bluetooth, USB: Arduino Uno and Mega 2560 FTDI: newer Arduinos

RS-485 inexpensive local networks and multidrop communication links large or short distances possible data lost when two devices talk at the same time

References

McGrath, M. J., & Scanaill, C. N. (2013). Key Sensor Technology Components: Hardware and Software Overview. In Sensor Technologies (pp. 51–77). Berkeley, CA: Apress. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4302-6014-1_3

Lee, Kang, “A Smart Transducer Interface Standard for Sensors and Actuators,” in The Industrial Information Technology Handbook, Zurawski, R., Ed., Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press, 2005, pp. 1–16.

Rouse, Margaret. “Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)”, Last Update: March 2011, http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/serial-peripheral-interface-SPI

EE Herald, “SPI Bus interface”, http://www.eeherald.com/section/design-guide/esmod12.html

User Society and Enterprise aspects

User demands/needs Mountaineering / Rock climbing

Previously identified for extreme sports in general:

• Experiencing raw, awe-inspiring nature
• Proving one’s own skills to oneself
• Acquiring mental health benefits
• Being reached by First Aid in an easier and faster way (Especially important for mountaineering)

Specific needs of importance for Mountaineering/Rock climbing:

• Heights:
  • Hypoxia/Hypercapnia → Blood sensor
  • Lightning (lethal injuries) → Weather report
  • Pulmonary oedema, cerebral oedema → Altimeter/Barometer monitor speed of ascension
  • Higher ultraviolet exposure → Sunblock textiles
• Cold:
  • Hypothermia/Frostbite → Temperature sensors
  • Cardiovascular events → Heart rate monitor
  • Hallucinations → Earlier detection of hypothermia
  • Exacerbates if combined with hypoxia and/or dehydration and/or wind
  • Exercise induced asthma, Bronchial hyperreactivity → Microphones, heart rate
• Overexertion & Overuse:
  • Dehydration/Hyponatremia → Galvanic skin response, Blood sensor
  • Inflammatory tissue damages to fingers and wrists → Tension sensors
  • Overuse injuries

Society's demands/needs:

• Teaching people what their impact is on nature and the ecosystem
• Having people try to combat environmental problems
• Not paying too much for healthcare (keeping expensive incidents to a minimum)

Enterprise demands/needs:

• Clear niche market to target and differentiate in.
• Enterprises strive for profit → clear analysis whether it is worthwhile producing this product.
• Keep competitive advantage, use SotA technology to distinguish oneself.
• Increasing corporate social responsibility. Produce products that increase people’s safety to improve one’s brand image.

However, it is important to notice that in this particular situation, the User needs outweigh the Society and Enterprise needs (by a long shot).

USE Scenario's

• A professional mountain climber is climbing a large snowy mountain. Even though he is well prepared, is well aware of the risks and has brought all relevant supplies, he cannot control all variables. When climbing, a blizzard hits, blocking all sight. His heart rate is lowering due to the cold, and in response he tries to hurry (in order to find shelter). In doing so, he overapplies tension to his fingers (severing nerves, which he is not aware of due to the cold). The tension sensors can sense this, and in combination with a lowered heart rate and decrease in skin temperature can deduce the fact that the hiker is likely in danger. It emits a distress signal to the nearby rescue post. A drone is dispatched. Using GPS tracking location, the drone can locate the hiker and guide the rescue squad there. The hiker, who in mean time has received a message that he should stop climbing and take some rest, can communicate through the drone. By preventively alarming the rescue post, the hiker can be brought to the hospital and treat his hands. With a bit of luck, he might just regain feeling in his fingers.

• A young athlete is seeking for a new way to get a thrill. He decides to go mountain climbing. However, he is not that experienced yet, and is not fully aware of all dangers. When starting, he rushes up the mountain in a streak of adrenaline. However, he quickly feels dizzy and light-headed. The electromagnetic skin patch sensors in his suit detect a change in intracranial fluid. In combination with a lowered heart rate, the smart-tech warns the athlete that he probably is deprived from oxygen. A drone is dispatched with extra oxygen to get the athlete back on track.

• A hiker is lost in the snowy mountain tops. He starts to panic and realizes he is running out of food supplies. He has no cell phone connection and does not know what to do. Using his SMART-watch, he emits a distress beacon that is picked up by the rescue post. The drone scouts the area and finds the shortest path to the hiker. The drone can then either instruct the hiker back to the road or lead the rescue squad to the hiker.

• A hiker is suddenly feeling nauseous and has no idea what is happening. He uses his smart suit to check his vital functions. The non-invasive sensors (e.g. heart rate, temperature, etc.) do not detect any dangers. The suit then turns to invasive sensors, and checks the blood composition. The results return an elevated level of a certain toxin. Apparently, a few hours ago, the hiker mistook some toxic berries for regular berries. The suit reports this, which enables the hiker to call upon a drone and after a while, the drone arrives with an antidote. The hiker administers the antidote, using instructions from the medic (who communicates through the drone). The hiker is then saved from food poisoning and can safely return home.

• After a rough day, a hiker goes to sleep. That night, his toes get too cold, and the system detects a danger to frostbite. The tech emits alarms to the hiker. 1) The hiker wakes up and can prevent frostbite in time. 2) The hiker does not wake up and the next morning wakes up to find out his toes are affected by frostbite. Being a professional hiker, he knows that rewarming his toes only increases the risk of tissue damage (since he is still exposed to the cold and refreezing could occur). Luckily, the smart tech already detected a drop in temperature and allerted the medics. The medics get there in time to bring the hiker home and treat his foot before any permanent damage is caused.

Taking several scenarios into account. The use of a SMART suit (in combination with a drone) could drastically increase healthcare efficiency, and prevent pretty horrible situations. The SotA in this tech does not fully rely on the use of a drone, but is more centered around the diagnostic ability of the suit as well as the preventive warnings this suit emits.