Posts Tagged ‘Intel’

A recent video posted by Intel explains the technology behind SmartBay, a flagship project and a major innovation, incorporating wireless communications into a marine platform.

Shimmer has been selected as a key component for the SmartBay platform, which is being developed under the Irish governments’ SmartOcean Strategy. The platform is a network of buoys, seafloor cables and other infrastructure supporting a range of sensors, information systems, telemetry and other communication technologies that provide the basis for real-time oceanographic monitoring.

It aims to facilitate the convergence of expertise in areas such as informatics, communications, sensors, software, control systems and mechanical engineering, and link them with marine science.

Watch the short introduction on the project below:

New Kinematic Modules

Meanwhile, development of the Shimmer platform and sensor modules has continued unabated. We recently launched two new sensor modules over the past couple of months with the Magnetometer and 9DoF modules adding to our Kinematics / IMU range.

With the same form factor as the rigid Gyro, the Magnetometer and 9DoF modules benefit from a planar design to reduce alignment errors, improve mechanical stability, and provide a programmable button for application control.

The Magnetometer provides excellent data capture of slow movements and stationary orientation. The 9DoF (Mag/Gyro on one board) when combined with Shimmer’s integrated accelerometer provides nine degrees of freedom motion capture. For more information visit the Magnetometer and 9DoF product pages.

In a recent testimony to a US Senate Special Sub-Committee on Aging, Eric Dishman reflected on the persistent barriers that prevent the widespread implementation of telehealth, aging-in-place, and what Continua calls “e-care” (for “electronic care”) technologies.

He opened his testimony by introducing two new technologies which he feels are key to the implementation of e-care systems. One of the two technologies he chose to introduce to the Senate Committee was Shimmer.

Utilising Shimmer to monitor the daily movements of seniors and predict when a fall may be likely to occur, Dishman believes that the technology can help reduce falls by as much as 70% or more. Currently one in every three people over the age of 65 fall each year, at an estimated cost of $44 billion to the US economy yearly by the end of this decade.

Read his full testimony by following this link.

A video of the testimony is also available on the above link, with Eric Dishman introduced to the committee at the 75.40 mark. He introduces Shimmer to the committee at the 76.45 mark.

TEDMED 2009 was held recently, from the 27^th – 30^th of October in San Diego, California. TEDMED celebrates conversations that demonstrate the intersection and connections between all things medical and healthcare related: from personal health to public health, devices to design and Hollywood to the hospital.

Speaking at the conference Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, urged attendees not to pursue wireless health services because they are a “shiny new technology” or because they are “innovative, creative and flashy,” but rather because, if they do improve health outcomes for patients, then they should be core tools for medical workers and global health programs.

Also speaking at the conference was Eric Dishman from Intel’s Digital Health Group, who noted the importance of “Behavioural Makers” and made particular reference to the Shimmer platform. Describing Shimmer as a small unit that fits into a pocket and monitors such attributes as hand tremor, gait and stride length. This he noted helps the understanding of how a change in a person’s daily patterns, or characteristic markers, of behaviour could be used for diagnostic purposes.

Paul Jacob’s, CEO of Qualcomm noted that ‘timing couldn’t better for introducing patients to new digital health tools’. Jacob’s demonstrating a number of wireless health monitoring devices and sensors during his presentation, however many saw the highlight to be a Cookie Monster toy that moved around the stage, fell down, and stood back up again. The toy was wearing a Shimmer which allowed for the remote monitoring of the toys activity, and also sent a prompt alert when a fall had been detected.

To read the full on article Eric Dishman’s speech at TEDMED 2009 published in the Scientific American please click here, or to read a brief overview of all the speakers mentioned, please click here.