Paper #2

A Wearable Wireless Sensor Network Node for Prevention of Physical Injuries

Tobias Heiduk, Aye Min Thike, Peter S. Excell and Ardeshir Osanlou

Abstract: The economic burden of healthcare provision is continually rising. To combat this, targeted preventative measures have been proposed, together with encouragement of healthier lifestyle, enhanced health data collection and empowerment of patients in disease prevention and monitoring. A major cause of impairment is muscular strain and/or bone damage caused by sports injuries in the young, or falling in the elderly. To address such issues, a wearable wireless inertial sensor network is proposed which monitors body dynamics for probable disruptive incidents. The sensor node consists of a combined accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer, linked to a micro controller to gather information from the sensor and a wireless transceiver for communication with the network. A miniaturised wearable prototype was designed and realised in hardware.

Keywords: Body Area Network (BAN); IEEE 802.15.4; motion monitoring; prevention of physical injuries; MEMS; microcontroller; wearable devices; wireless sensor network.