Tuesday, December 30. 2008

MEMS-based Sensor for Pedestrian Navigation

Aircraft used for capturing imagery use a combination of GPS and related technologies to keep an accurate record of where the plane was to use in locating the image. That other technology is a series of sensors, accelerometers, inertial measuring units (IMUs) - the stuff Applanix is well-known for making.

So, what is if you could make those sensors teeny and use them say for navigation for pedestrian routing? That's what VTI will be showing off at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) next week. The company will be showing off a Micro Electro-Mechanical System or MEMS-based demo unit that tracks "position, speed and distance of a pedestrian." The technology would be used in combination with another technology because such a tool would need to know where it "started from" to provide useful information.

- Small Times

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Sensors, Satellite Navigation at 06:57 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, December 22. 2008

Sensor in Ball, Gloves Confirm Plays

A team of students, lead by their Steeler fan instructor, at Carnegie Mellon developed the system which now includes sensors in both the glove and the ball. It can tell if the ball hit the ground before being caught and confirm who had control of the ball. No one is yet using the technology which could eventually expand to sensors in players' shoes or to confirm a touchdown.

I'm still getting used to instant replay in college football. I'm not ready for this!

- Pittsburgh Post Gazette via Gizmodo

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Sensors at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, October 30. 2008

GeoGoodies from Microsoft's Professional Developer's Conference (PDC)

Rick Rashid of Microsoft Research hosted the final keynote of the event on Wednesday. Among the geographically related goodies he showed:

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Microsoft, Sensors, Real-Time/Dynamic Data at 07:03 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Wednesday, October 1. 2008

"Tricorder" Prototype

I called it that. The folks who developed the software call it 'Real Space See-through Mobile.' It's just a prototype and comes from KDDI's R&D laboratory and Tokyo University and it being shown off this week at CEATEC in Japan this week. Here's what it is supposed to do:

Three acceleration sensors combine with a similar number of geomagnetic sensors and a GPS chip to work out exactly where the phone is and in what direction it's pointing.

Using some sort of digital voodoo, the software then uses OpenGL to draw on the screen what it has 'sensed' is in the immediate surroundings.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Sensors at 07:22 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, September 30. 2008

Track Your Greenness Via Phone Courtesy Urban Sensing program at UCLA

The Nokia GPS-enabled phone app, PEIR, produces a Personal Environmental Impact Report. How? It tracks you (every 30 seconds) and when you upload the data it does its best to determine if you walked or drove (how would it know you were on a bus vs. your Hummer) and where you stopped (how would it know if it was Micky D's or the farmer's market if they were close by and the market was only running on Wednesdays?) The idea is simply to lower your score over time. The absolute values are not that meaningful says the lead. For now the app is in closed beta but is being shown off at NextFest, a Wired event. One planned feature? A tool to compare the greenness of different routes.

- Wired

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Sensors, Satellite Navigation at 07:42 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, September 11. 2008

Patent Watch: Apple's Next Gen "Nike+" has Sensors, LBS Ads

Apple's application for the Smart Garment patent was published today.

Apple Insider has a nice discussion of the technologies included, but in short they include:

- internal sensors to measure how the foot strikes and potentially to tell when the shoe is "past its prime"
- perhaps a move to other brands
- the ability to compare performance between one shoe and another
- GPS for tracking distance location and providing LBS ads/POIs info while working out

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Sensors, Patents, Satellite Navigation, Apple at 09:34 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |