ECE: Electrical & Computer Engineering

"Activity Recognition Processing in a Self-Contained Wearable System", Master's Thesis, Blacksburg, VA, September 2008.

Electronic textiles provide an ective platform to contain wearable computing elements, espe- cially components geared towards the application of activity recognition. An activity recogni- tion system built into a wearable textile substrate can be utilized in a variety of areas including health monitoring, military applications, entertainment, and fashion. Many of the activity recognition and motion capture systems previously developed have several drawbacks and lim- itations with regard to their respective designs and implementations. Some such systems are often times expensive, not conducive to mass production, and may be divcult to calibrate. An ective system must also be scalable and should be deployable in a variety of environ- ments and contexts. This thesis presents the design and implementation of a self-contained motion sensing wearable electronic textile system with an emphasis toward the application of activity recognition. The system is developed with scalability and deployability in mind, and as such, utilizes a two-tier hierarchical model combined with a network infrastructure and wireless connectivity. An example prototype system, in the form of a jumpsuit garment, is presented and is constructed from relatively inexpensive components and materials.

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