Ebook: Sensor Technologies: Healthcare, Wellness and Environmental Applications

Sensor Technologies: Healthcare, Wellness and Environmental Applications explores the key aspects of sensor technologies, covering wired, wireless, and discrete sensors for the specific application domains of healthcare, wellness and environmental sensing.  It discusses the social, regulatory, and design considerations specific to these domains.

The book provides an application-based approach using real-world examples to illustrate the application of sensor technologies in a practical and experiential manner. The book  guides the reader from the formulation of the research question, through the design and validation process, to the deployment and management phase of sensor applications.  The processes and examples used in the book are primarily based on research carried out by Intel or joint academic research programs.

“Sensor Technologies: Healthcare, Wellness and Environmental Applications provides an extensive overview of sensing technologies and their applications in healthcare, wellness, and environmental monitoring. From sensor hardware to system applications and case studies, this book gives readers an in-depth understanding of the technologies and how they can be applied. I would highly recommend it to students or researchers who are interested in wireless sensing technologies and the associated applications.”
Dr. Benny Lo
Lecturer, The Hamlyn Centre, Imperial College of London    

“This timely addition to the literature on sensors covers the broad complexity of sensing, sensor types, and the vast range of existing and emerging applications in a very clearly written and accessible manner.  It is particularly good at capturing the exciting possibilities that will occur as sensor networks merge with cloud-based ‘big data’ analytics to provide a host of new applications that will impact directly on the individual in ways we cannot fully predict at present.  It really brings this home through the use of carefully chosen case studies that bring the overwhelming concept of 'big data' down to the personal level of individual life and health.”  
Dermot Diamond
Director, National Centre for Sensor Research, Principal Investigator, CLARITY Centre for Sensor Web Technologies, Dublin City University                                                                     

"Sensor Technologies: Healthcare, Wellness and Environmental Applications takes the reader on an end-to-end journey of sensor technologies, covering the fundamentals from an engineering perspective, introducing how the data gleaned can be both processed and visualized, in addition to offering exemplar case studies in a number of application domains.  It is a must-read for those studying any undergraduate course that involves sensor technologies.  It also provides a thorough foundation for those involved in the research and development of applied sensor systems.  I highly recommend it to any engineer who wishes to broaden their knowledge in this area!"
Chris Nugent
Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ulster  

What you’ll learn

The relevant sensing approaches and the hardware and software components required to capture and interpret sensor data.

The importance of regulations governing medical devices.

A design methodology for developing and deploying successful home- and community-based technologies, supported by relevant case studies.

Health, wellness, and environmental sensing applications and how they work.

The challenges and future directions of sensing in these domains.

Who this book is for

Sensor Technologies: Healthcare, Wellness and Environmental Applications is targeted at clinical and technical researchers, engineers, and students who want to understand the current state of the art in sensor applications in these domains. The reader gains a full awareness of the key technical and non-technical challenges that must be addressed in the development of successful end-to-end sensor applications. Real-world examples help give the reader practical insights into the successful development, deployment, and management of sensor applications. The reader will also develop an understanding of the personal, social, and ethical impact of sensor applications, now and in the future.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Goal:     Reader should understand the key challenges and drivers for sensor application development. The reader should also understand how sensor technologies can play a role in addressing some of the key challenges facing global society in the short to medium term. 1.       Book overview 2.       Drivers for Sensor Applications (Infrastructure Growth in Developing Countries, Advances in Energy Harvesting, New Applications, Cost reduction, Real-time monitoring of situations to avoid unplanned downtime, Security (personal and national), the internet of things). 3.       Challenges for Sensor Applications (Power, Efficient Operation in Harsh Environments, Number of Deployable Nodes, Safety and Regulations, High Cost of Installation, Security and Reliability, sensor management) 4.       Global Megatrends and the opportunities for sensing technologies o    Water and Food Constraints o    Aging Demographics o    Public Health o    Pandemics o    Security



Chapter 2: Sensing and Sensor Fundamentals

Chapter Goal:     Reader should understand existing sensor technologies, which can be used in healthcare, wellness, and environmental domains.  They should also understand the role of smart sensors and smart phones as mobile sensing platforms and aggregators. 1.       Sensing Modalities (Mechanical, MEMS, Optical, ISFET, µTAS) 2.       Sensing Domains (Air, Water, Noise, Bacterial, Chemical, Kinematic, DNA, Physiological) 3.       Functional Characterisation of Sensors o    Communication methods – discrete, wired, wireless o    Smart Sensors and Sensor Platforms §  MSP430 (SHIMMER and telosB motes) §  ATmega §  PIC 4.       Smart Phones as mobile sensor platforms 5.       Selecting and specifying sensors



Chapter 3 Key Sensor Technology Components – Hardware and Software Overview Chapter Goal:     Reader should have a high level understanding of the key hardware and software components, which are necessary for the development of sensors systems and why technologies are selected for specific applications. 1.       Overview – Sensor systems 2.       MCU’s (TI MSP430, ATmega, PIC) a.       ADCs b.       Interrupts c.        Real-time Clocks 3.       Sensor Interfaces a.       Digital b.       Analog c.        I2C 4.       Communications – wired and wireless interfaces RS232/485, USB, Ethernet, FieldbusProprietary Short Range Wireless Protocols (e.g. ANT, BodyLAN, Sensium)Standard Short Range Protocols                                                                i.      IEEE 802.15.6                                                               ii.      Bluetooth/Smart Bluetooth                                                             iii.      802.15.4                                                             iv.      UWB Medium Range                                                                i.      Wi-Fi 5.       Data storage (EEPROM, sd card, data forwarding) 6.       Power management and Energy Harvesting 7.       Operating Systems and  Software Development Environments (SDK’s)



Chapter 4 Sensor Network Architectures

Chapter Goal:      Reader should understand the various approaches to the design of sensor network architectures; scaling from body worn systems, to ambient sensing, to city-scale deployments. The reader should also understand the advantages and disadvantages of current and evolving sensor network architectures. 1.       Sensor network architectures o    Discrete Sensor o    Sensor to aggregator o    PAN/WPAN/smart clothing o    Pervasive/Ambient sensor networks o    Wide area networks (city-wide, country wide) 2.       Challenges in developing and deploying sensor networks 3.       Current and Proposed Solutions o    Remote sensor management o    Edge Processing o    Power harvesting o    New communication standards Chapter 5: Adding Vibrancy to Sensor Data Chapter Goal:     Reader should understand the various methods to interpret and display sensor data to the user. They will understand the importance of creating a data analysis plan from the outset, and the different types of data analysis throughout the application stack. 1.       Data Literacy – How can we intuitively answer questions with sensor data and contextualise answers 2.       Data Quality a.       Calibration b.       Trust and Repudiation 3.       Sensor Fusion – combining sensory data from disparate sources 4.       Data Mining 5.       Data Visualisation 6.       Openness, data integration, virtual sensors 7.       Exploiting the power of the cloud



Chapter 6: Regulation and Standards

Chapter Goal:     Reader should understand the key technologies, which impac...