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Wearable Computers: a New Paradigm in Computer Systems and Their Applications IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTERS, VOL. 52, NO. 8, AUGUST 2003 977 Wearable Computers: A New Paradigm in Computer Systems and Their Applications Asim Smailagic æ HE convergence of a variety of technologies makes in an emergency. The goal is to enable mobile computers to Tpossible an entirely new way of using information play an analogous role, exploiting context information to processing. Continued advances in semiconductor technol- significantly reduce demands on human attention. Com- ogy produce high performance microprocessors requiring bined with inferences about users’ intentions, context-aware less power and less space. Decades of research in computer computing would allow improvement in user-perceived science have provided the technology for hands-free network and application performance and reliability. Con- computing using speech and gesturing for input. Miniature text-aware intelligent agents can deliver relevant information heads-up displays weighing less than a few ounces have when a user needs that information. These data make possible been introduced. Combined with mobile communication many exciting new applications, such as augmented reality, technology, it is possible for users to access information context aware collaboration, wearable assisted living, aug- anywhere and anytime. Body-worn computers providing mented manufacturing, and maintenance. hands-free operation offer compelling advantages in many Wearable computing brings the power of a pervasive applications. computing environment to a person by placing computing Wearable computers deal in information rather than and sensory resources on the user in an unobtrusive way. programs, becoming tools in the user’s environment much These computers can be specialized and modular, like items like a pencil or a reference book. The wearable computer of clothing. Unlike laptops or handheld computers, wear- provides portable access to information. Furthermore, the able computers offer many new models to interact beyond information can be automatically accumulated by the keyboards and touch screens, in a natural, intuitive way, system as the user interacts with and modifies the environment, thereby eliminating the costly and error- such as sound and tactile feedback. Also, wearables can be prone process of information acquisition. Much as personal easily reconfigured to meet specific needs of applications. computers allow accountants and bookkeepers to merge Every wearable computer system must be viewed from their information space with their workspace (i.e., a sheet of three different axes: the human, the computer, and the paper), wearable computers allow mobile processing and application. Within each of these axes there are difficult the superposition of information on the users workspace. problems that must be solved and there are problems that When combined with pervasive computing, wearable arise from the fact that there are three axes. computers will provide access to the right information at the The human axis emphasizes wearability, which is right place and at the right time. Distractions are even more of defined as the interaction between the human body and a problem when they occur in mobile environments than the wearable object. Dynamic wearability includes the desktop environments since the user is often preoccupied human body in motion. Design for wearability considers with walking, driving, or other real-world interactions. A the physical shape of objects and their active relationship pervasive computing environment that minimizes distrac- with the human form. Researchers explored history and tion has to be context aware. Context-aware computing cultures, including topics such as clothing, costumes, describes the situation where a mobile computer is aware of protective wearables, and carried devices. These studies of its user’s state and surroundings and modifies its behavior physiology, biomechanics, and movement were codified based on this information. A user’s context can be quite rich, into guidelines for designing wearable systems. User consisting of attributes such as physical location, physiolo- comfort is a critical design consideration in many applica- gical state (such as body temperature, heart rate, and skin tions. New technologies such as smart textiles will sig- resistance), emotional state (such as angry, distraught, or nificantly improve the functionality and ergonomics of calm), personal history, daily behavioral patterns, etc. If a wearable computers. The computer axis deals with the human assistant were given such context, he or she would problems related to construction of a system with particular make decisions in a proactive fashion, anticipating user fabrics, size, power consumption, and user interface soft- needs. In making these decisions, the assistant would ware. The application axis emphasizes mobile application typically not disturb the user at inopportune moments except design challenges and efficient mapping of problem solving capabilities to application requirements. Wearable compu- ters have established their first foothold in several applica- . The author is with the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. E-mail: [email protected]. tion domains, such as vehicle and aircraft maintenance and For information on obtaining reprints of this article, please send e-mail to: manufacturing, inspection procedures, augmented reality, [email protected], and reference IEEECS Log Number 118291. context aware collaboration, language translation, etc. 0018-9340/03/$17.00 ß 2003 IEEE Published by the IEEE Computer Society 978 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTERS, VOL. 52, NO. 8, AUGUST 2003 The early decades of the 21st century will be a period of Asim Smailagic is a research professor at the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, excitement and ferment as new hardware technologies College of Engineering, and Department of converge with research progress on the many essential Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carne- problems in wearable computing. The fundamental nature gie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh, Penn- of this research and its importance will increase as wearable sylvania. He is also director of the Laboratory for Interactive and Wearable Computer Systems at computing becomes more pervasive. The vision embodied CMU. This lab has designed and constructed 24 in this research will help us move from a 40-year computing generations of novel mobile/wearable computer machine preoccupation to a new era of people-centric systems over the last decade. He has been a computing, focusing our technologies increasingly on hu- program chairman of seven IEEE conferences and program chairman of the Cambridge Conference on High Performance Distributed Computer man needs, augmenting their capabilities and productivity, Systems ’89. He has acted as a guest editor and associate editor for ushering in an age of distraction-free computing. leading archival journals, such as the IEEE Transactions on Mobile We have selected four papers for this special section. The Computing, IEEE Transactions on VLSI Systems, Journal on VLSI first two papers address the topics of power management Signal Processing, and the Journal of Computing and Information Technology and is one of cofounders of the IEEE Symposium on and optimization. The first paper, “Nonideal Battery Wearable Computers. He was a visiting professor at Cambridge Properties and Their Impact on Software Design for University and University of Leeds. He received the Fulbright Post- Wearable Computers” by Thomas L. Martin and Daniel P. doctoral Award at Carnegie Mellon in Computer Science in 1988. He Siewiorek, summarizes their research on nonideal proper- was a recipient of the 1992 Tempus European Community Award for scientific cooperation resulting in new curriculum development, the 2000 ties of batteries and how these properties may impact Allen Newell Award for Research Excellence from Carnegie Mellon’s power-performance trade offs in wearable computing. The School of Computer Science, recognizing his pioneering contributions to authors conclude that, when battery behavior is nonideal, wearable computers, and the 2002 Carnegie Science Award for the amount of computation completed in a battery life is not Excellence. He has written or edited seven books in the areas of computer systems design and prototyping, mobile computers, and VLSI increased by lowering the average but by lowering the peak system design. He has made major contributions to several projects that of power or the energy per operation. represent milestones in the evolution of advanced computer systems: The second paper, “Discharge Current Steering for from CMU’s Cm* Multiprocessor System and Edinburgh Multi-Micro- Battery Lifetime Optimizations” by Luca Benini, Davide processor Assembly (EMMA) to CMU’s current projects on eearable computer systems, smart modules, communicator, and aura pervasive Bruni, Alberto Macii, Enrico Macii, and Massimo Poncino, computing. He has served on numerous advisory boards, US National proposes multibattery lifetime maximization as a contin- Science Foundation review panels, and consulting assignments, and uous, constrained optimization problem which can be delivered a number of keynote lectures at international conferences. efficiently solved by nonlinear optimizers. The authors show that significant lifetime extensions can be obtained with respect to standard sequential discharge. The third paper, “Modeling, Analysis, and Self-Manage- ment of
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