Development of a Novel Distributed Wearable Sensor Platform

Recent advancements in low-power, low-cost, miniaturized sensor technology have propelled wearable electronics into the mainstream. Wearable devices like smartwatches are now commonplace, finding applications in health and fitness, sports, personnel tracking, and human computer interfaces. Many of these systems, however, are consumer oriented, with closed environments and limited access to sensor data, greatly restricting their use as exploratory tools for researchers. In this work, we describe the development of a novel wearable sensor platform that attempts to overcome many of the limitations of existing systems while adding new features to improve and simplify experimental designs. Following a clear set of guidelines, the system was built, validated, and tested in a real-life experiment to assess its effectiveness and ease of use. The developed platform consists five nodes that communicate wirelessly with a central hub using Bluetooth, sending raw sensor data, which is then visualized and analyzed using a graphical software interface.