8. Many different application of telemetry Fleet Management Manufacturing Retail Smart Homes Automotive… If we can put a sensor on it, we can measure it
9. Telemetry has gone Mainstream! Garmin Forerunner 405 Apple Nike ipod sensor
By this time you are listening to several presentations and you are most likely very tired…so I would like to close your eyes and imagine. Imagine that you are in a different time. You are getting sleepy, sleepier…you are back in 1957. The month, October. You are probably carving pumpkins and you’re ready to watch ‘Leave it to Beaver’ TV program. (Wham!!) What happened? You are awoken by something so unimaginable. Totally off guard!
The Russian launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 stunned the US, and jumpstarted what was later called the Space Race, acompetition between the US and Russia to explore outer space. It crushed the U.S. ego they listened to the ‘beep beep’ circulating around the world. Sputnik had three batteries, two for the RF radio signal and one for temperature regulation, it was only designed to last for 2 weeks, but lasted 22 days. Military and amateur radio enthusiasts listened in awe.
Nov ‘57: Laika was the first dog in space! Monitoring blood pressure, breath frequency and heartbeat as well as temperature, the dog only lived for 4 days. This was the beginning of what Winston would call an invention’s supervening social necessity …this invention is..
Telemetry! Today and tomorrow (in less than 8 mins!). I am your host, Lynne. I will explain what telemetry is, we’ll explore a few current applications and what are the consequences this technology, if any, in our future.
Telemetry is the science/technology of collecting sensor data and transmitting it to a remote location.Remote Monitoring~ In essence, telemetry is having the ability to ‘see’ and sometimes control from far away.
The Cold War pushed the transistor technology to become Integrated Circuits (that are in computers) and computer networking. These separate and independent technologies would lead to the collective technology of telemetry. In the past we saw big changes in the computer & now PC (computer plus display monitor). Now and in the future we will see convergence of these components. Also computer display is evolving. We are seeing smartphones and ipads.Currently there is a new/exciting network alliance, Zigbee, which combines sensor/battery/computer and forms a Distributed network. In the past we’ve seen how Integrated circuits have become smaller/smarter/reducing cost of computers. We will continue to see this in new sensor technology today.
Currently this is what a temp sensor looks like. It needs a battery to be powered and collects data and sends via a network (the above image shows the different network models~ we are heading towards the Distributed model because there is no single point of failure in the Distributed network). Joseph Licklider the man who would have come up with the Distributed model (often called one of the father’s of the internet) was also came up with the idea of Graphic Interfaces.
Smart Homes (google’s going into this); Zigbee alliance (Distributed model network) recently came up with a Retail protocol. As Zigbee develops into our Smart Home environment, if we are low on supplies, these sensors/computers will alert the store or a manufacturer where they can resupply your pantry. An example of a high end market and its trickle down effects is NASCAR. There are over 60 sensors, from engine data, fuel flow rate, throttle, brakes…all sensor data is collected and analyzed. They’ve created a site called ‘PitCommand’ where viewers pay 5.99 month to view these monitoring metrics during the race… some of these technologies have gone into mass market. OnStar network works with GM and with sensors they can tell if the air bag has been deployed. Using navigational technology (gps), they can even track a car down as they did with a car jacking incident. It only took less than 15 mins for the owner to get his car back in possession from the time when he called OnStar control. The control was able to identify the stolen car, report to the police the gps coordinates, slow the car down to a stop.
You know telemetry technology has gone mainstream when you see it in the recreational industry. Sensors are being placed in our clothing and becoming more common place. ‘Smart Mob’ author, Howard Rheingold said “We are living through the last years of the long era before sensors are built into the furniture.” The Garmin Forerunner 405 and the Apple Nike ipod sensor both are available for uploading to their websites. Your heart rate, cadence, time,…all are documented and can be shared with friends. People like to use these graphs as monitoring tools for self-improvement and it’s motivating!
I believe the most significant application of telemetry which will affect everyone’s lives is the continued development of medical telemetry.Why will it affect our future and will change the delivery of health care?
Baby boomers are entering the retirement age. 80% of people over 65 have two or more chronic disease. 140 million have chronic disease.
There’s an increase demand for nurses and health care professionals. Chronic diseases are the number one cause for expense in hospitals.
These band-aid like sensors are amazing. Sensors need to find better batteries with longer life. They continue to get smaller. Self-monitoring allows chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, glucose levels, pulse, asthma, allergies to be checked by the patient. Patients can take preventative measures by monitoring themselves.All data can be uploaded to big networks evaluated by physicians, pharmacists, loved ones.
Smartphones using wireless technology will be the future of healthcare. There are 4 billion cell phone users and these sensors are getting better and better. Soon we’ll be able to share our heart rate on a tweet or FB post! Patients can share their health status with friends and family just as we see with Garmin and Nike/Apple ipod fitness. As smarter sensors are being developed and more robust hospital networks are figuring out ways to illiminate interference, more data will be shared and distributed.
Shards of data is collected.Surveillance: Personal information is being collected. Health history, purchasing habits can /will be sold to retailers – start target marketing. Sociologist Gary Marx noted that the growing ability of computers to compile dossiers about individuals by piecing together countless tiny, otherwise harmless shards of information about transactions, medical conditions, buying habits and demographics constitute a distinct class of “data veillance”
I will leave you with this question to think about: Are you willing to give up control/privacy for. convenience. Think about Facebook, are you worried about your data being abused? Now think about your health records, would you worry about health insurance or your employer finding out about you? What do we do to protect ourselves against organizations who can abuse the collected data on us?
