New Shimmer Applications and Solutions

Shimmer Research will soon launch ‘Shimmer Solutions’ via our website and online store. Adding to our current range of Shimmer products, OEM, and consultancy services, Shimmer Research is now developing tools and solutions for specific end user applications.

What to Expect?

We will be adding a ‘Solutions’ tab to our website and online store that will offer tools and solutions to meet specific end user application requirements. The first solutions to be released will focus on the areas of multi-Shimmer management and synchronisation, closely followed by a complete suite of tools for motion analysis and complex motion sensing.

Whilst there will be new application specific solutions, we will still continue to develop generic platform tools and applications that will be made freely available to the Shimmer user’s community. Users can expect the release of a more comprehensive kinematic calibration tools, and support for an ECG feature extraction application in the near future. Work is also being carried out to provide supporting applications for MATLAB and Android.

Know of a Solution that Everyone Needs?

At Shimmer Research we have always looked to our user community to help guide the development of our platform. If you know of a potential solution that there is a real need for we’d be happy to hear from you. From Gait Analysis, Falls Detection, Muscle Fatigue, or Object Usage Tracking, if there is a significant need for a solution we are open to investigating the possibility of development.

Keep track of our website for the upcoming changes or sign up to our RSS feed to keep informed of announcements.

Shimmer 2R, the latest revision of the Shimmer platform has been released and is now available to purchase from our online store. Changes to the platform include a lower power Accelerometer, new Bluetooth radio module, new 802.15.4 radio module, and a smaller more functional enclosure.

The Shimmer 2R platform has improved battery voltage monitoring, and the ability to measure/calculate instantaneous operating current. This new functionality will benefit customers seeking to develop resource aware applications. The new 802.15.4 radio module, developed by Shimmer Research and titled SR7, has FCC, IC, and ETSI certification and is also utilised on the recently launch Span Platform for low power standards based communication.

New Features of the Shimmer 2R Platform:

• New 3 Axis Accelerometer: Freescale MMA7361 1.5/6g Micropower MEMs Accelerometer

• New Shimmer Research SR7 Radio Module: 802.15.4 Radio Module with Chipcon CC2420, Chip Antenna. The SR7 has FCC, IC, and ETSI Certification.

• New Class 2 Bluetooth™ Radio: Roving Networks RN-42 with soft-power control and improved low-power and master-mode.

• Power Monitoring: Improved battery voltage monitoring and the ability to measure/calculate operating current.

• More Functional Case Design.

The release of Shimmer 2R coincides with the release of a full range of new enclosures. The new case design is 25% smaller in volume than the previous generation Shimmer unit, and offers greater functionality on the expansion modules.

For more details on the Shimmer 2R platform download the capabilities overview, or for registered users of our members section, download the Shimmer 2R manual.

Shimmer Research has released a new Gyro Sensor module. The new Rigid Gyro board design replaces the previous Flex Gyro board and adds additional features for enhanced operation and accuracy.

The Shimmer Gyro Board has an enhanced user interface with a programmable button for application control (such as sampling start/stop, RF transmission start/stop, data marker), a programmable indicator, and pinhole reset. The new rigid Gyro Board also burns 25% less power than the previous Shimmer Flexi Gyro design and with a rigid board implementation to ensure a perpendicular Z-axis, the new board reduces alignment error and provides mechanical stability. The size of the Shimmer is unchanged, even with the new features.

New Gyro Board – Key Features:

Sensing:

• InvenSense 500 series MEMs Gyros provide 500 degrees/s full scale, 2.0mV/degree/second sensitivity.
  • (Factory option for 110 degrees/s and 9.1mV/degree/second sensitivity)
• Planar design reduces alignment error and provides mechanical stability
• Burns 25% less power than previous Shimmer Gyro
• Zero-signal reference levels for offset calibration
• Gyro Temperature monitoring for precision sensing applications
• Auto-zero control for precision sensing applications
• Secondary power regulator rejects system noise
• Gyros can be disabled to save power

User Interface:

• Programmable Button for application control.  Examples: Sampling Start/Stop, RF transmission Start/Stop, Data Marker
• Programmable Indicator
• Pinhole reset

The new EMG and GSR daughter cards have now been released and are officially available to Shimmer users. The EMG (Electromyogram) will prove a useful tool to existing users of the ECG daughter card with no software changes required except to support higher sampling rates, whilst readers will be familiar with the recent validation work carried out on the GSR (Galvonic Skin Response) daughter card for use in biomedical-orientated research applications.

The EMG daughter card is a highly economical wireless acquisition system for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by muscles using conventional disposable electrodes. The EMG works just like the existing Shimmer ECG daughter card allowing the addition of EMG measurement to existing Shimmer systems as a drop-in replacement. The EMG has low power consumption 180µA (leads connected) and a frequency range* of 5Hz-482Hz.

The GSR daughter card monitors skin conductivity between two reusable electrodes attached to two fingers of one hand and can be used in areas such as affective computing and to monitor aspects including stress, excitement, shock, and cognitive factors. The Shimmer GSR outperforms competing devices by using four digitally controlled measurement ranges. Developers use this capability to ensure accurate measurement across a variety of test subjects in real-world deployments.

The EMG and GSR daughter cards maintain an open system with no proprietary connectors, and have an open and extensible software and data format. They both capture data to the highest industry standards, and offer far superior flexibility due to wearable technology and small form factor allowing for greater usability in real world applications. Most notably, the EMG and GSR daughter cards match or often outperform competing gold standard sensor units, whilst offering better ergonomics at a cost-effective price.

A brief specification overview of the two daughter cards can be seen below:

EMG

GSR

The new daughter cards can be purchased by contacting info ‘at’ shimmer-research.com, and will be available to purchase from our online store in the coming weeks.

PRESS RELEASE

Dublin, Ireland – January 21, 2010 – The Shimmer wireless sensor platform has recently been awarded the CE mark, proving it has met EU consumer health and safety requirements for medical equipment. The CE certification also includes the ECG, EMG, and Motion capture Products.

The CE Certification coincides with the launch of the platforms new EMG (Electromyography), and GSR (Galvanic Skin Response – for testing characteristics such as stress levels) products, and reflects the platforms continued advancement of wireless sensing innovation.

Marketed and developed by Shimmer Research the Shimmer wireless sensor platform now offers a wide range of wireless sensing possibilities from physiological and kinematic motion capture to tilt and vibration sensors. Commenting on the expanding range of wireless sensors Kieran Daly, VP of Business Development at Shimmer Research noted that the company is ‘committed to driving wireless sensing innovation by providing sensors that capture data to the highest industry standards’. Indeed, this was made evident by validation work carried out on the ECG, Motion, and GSR sensors for ambulatory ECG, Temporal Gait Analysis, and GSR data capture in biomedical research settings. The information captured by Shimmer was comparable to, or outperformed larger, traditional wired units that would be considered gold standard.

Remarking on the validation results,  Daly stated that everybody at the company was ‘very pleased with the results, it’s a good representation of the quality the platform offers, and highlights how Shimmer performs against well known traditional wired units that can be costly and don’t offer the same flexibility’

To read the full Press Release, click here.

Shimmer Research is proud to announce the launch of the next generation Shimmer, which has evolved from Shimmer 1.3 to offer new features and functionality to users of the platform.

The latest revision of the Shimmer platform adds improvements based on years of field trials and deployments. The most dramatic change is a patent-pending direct-to-host data transfer path from Shimmer’s MicroSD card to hasten data offload, minimize user training, and provide fail-safe data access. Power control features have been added including soft-power switching and low-battery shutdown. Finally a passive vibration sensor was added— this sensor efficiently signals when the device is in use.

Other new features on the Shimmer 2 platform are:

• Reset/User Programmable on/off switch
• SD Card with data-path MUX for full-speed host transfer when docked and soft-power control with dock detection over-ride
• SD data bypass – full FAT FS for SD access when the shimmer is docked
• Tilt/vibration sensor
• Improved plastics and enclosure

Shimmer (rev 2.0) will also be compatible with the existing Shimmer 1.3 family of products and accessories to insure easy of integration into existing Shimmer projects.

Download the PDF document to see a full Capabilities Overview.

Download the PDF document to answer any Legacy Support Questions.

To purchase the platform today, please visit our Online Store.

Watch SHIMMER coverage from RTE Six-One news. Coverage starts 1.5 minutes into the link.

SHIMMER in the news

DUBLIN, Ireland and NEW YORK, New York, July 16, 2008—

Ireland-based Realtime Technologies, a leading provider of electronic manufacturing and design services, today launched Shimmer™, a hardware research platform designed for wearable health sensing in both connected and wireless environments.

Read the full story here.