Wearable Computers in Modern World

Student,

Dharani Sethuram

Dept. of Information Science and Engineering

BMS College of Engineering

Bangalore, India

dharanisethuram@gmail.com

Student,

Lakshmi N

Dept. of Information Science and Engineering

BMS College of Engineering

Bangalore, India

laksh.nagappan7@gmail.com

Abstract—Spectacles or glasses have always helped man to see

the world in a better way. Today these spectacles can be

programmed and powered by smart devices to make man

experience the world of technology in an easier way. Wearable

Technology is anything that deals with technology being used in

body borne devices. When video glasses are connected to any smart

device it acts as a display. A smart device here is built using

Raspberry Pi which is a small sized computer and does no task less

than any of the traditional computers. The Pi is controlled using a

wireless keyboard which is interfaced with video glasses. In this

way user can work by wearing the device irrespective of the

environment that he is been subjected to.

Keywords—Wearable devices, Raspberry pi, Overclocking,

Multitasking, SBC(Single Board Computers).

I. INTRODUCTION

Wearable computer is a body-borne computer with electronic devices programmed according to the user’s interest. It can be developed for general and special purpose information technologies including media. All this being done at a smaller size and can be comfortably worn by the user instead of carrying them around. This way technology is a part of us rather than just being a support system. Tasks like browsing, listening to music, coding to mention a few, can be done by the user at ease. The wearable computer is built using Raspberry Pi and High Definition glasses, supporting the User Interface. This compared to the traditional computers or smart phones used today would be a cost efficient alternative aimed at working as a full-fledged computer.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Wearable technology incorporates the vision of building devices used in day to day life which make the user’s interaction as simple as possible and interesting. The primary wearable technology, the calculator watch invented in the 1970’s was one of the first electronic devices worn. The calculator watch had a built in calculator which worked on digital technology. Calculator watches was first introduced by Pulsar, a brand of the Hamilton Watch Company in 1975 and Hewlett Packard. This became a widespread trend in the 1980’s and the most notable brand being Casio Databank series. This series not only performed the basic calculator functions but also stored names, appointments, phone numbers and addresses.

Going further, a term widely known has “Do it yourself” has been famous since the 1920’s. It is aimed at getting tasks done without human aid in building, repairing and rebuilding

components. It has wide implications in the industry primarily focusing on home improvement and fashion. Substantiating ample amount of scope in this area YouTube, the social media giant brought in a series of DIY fashion videos series focusing on bleaching jeans, designing a shirt, just to name a few. This received a good response from the users.

In the 21st century this trend has improvised into being a

wearable computer. The smart watches can run mobile applications and sometimes an operating system too. Trivial tasks like playing of FM Radio, Audio and Video files can be shared via Bluetooth. A big breakthrough that was achieved in this technology was by Google by introducing the Google glasses in 2013, these glasses are supported by optical head-mounted display (OHMD) with the mission of developing ubiquitous computing where computing is made to appear everywhere and anywhere. These glasses bring notifications and rich text information straight to the eyes, they could be well operated by voice commands.

Besides, this field has also seen development in innovative wearable devices that have brought into the market smart appliances which satisfy diversified needs. To mention a few, WATCH Society (Wearable Technology in Health Care) to support innovation in the field of healthcare services, Smart shirts which enable digital components to be embedded in them. In 2014, with the growth of Android market, Motorola introduced Moto 360 a smart watch that runs Android wear which is a version of Google’s Android operating system that is specifically designed for smart watches and other wearables.

The industry that concentrates primarily on enhancing the capabilities of wearable technology has now taken a leap forward and is now concentrating on developing driverless cars, Smart jewelry ,augmented reality to mention a few. With Internet of things taking the main stage the world now focusses on getting the smallest of the small things connected to the Internet thus exploring the capabilities of developing a digitally connected world. The demands for maximum utilization of the available resources in the most optimized manner. The smart watches were an eye opener for the vast amount of unexplored technological advancements that could be unearthed for the betterment of mankind. Hence the future scope in this technological aspect is wholesome.

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III. METHODOLOGY

A. Traditional Computers and SBC.

Desktop computers have their capabilities and advantages but bears the disadvantage of not being portable, so further enhancement was brought in through laptops and other smart devices. Each device having its own pro’s and consequences, wearable computers are designed to fairly replace the traditional computers that would have all the functionalities of a computer with the added advantage of being portable, reduced size and cost effective. This would enable the user to stay connected with the computing environment and the internet always. Any computer’s architecture would have Central processing unit, Input and Output devices as the elementary components. The cost effective alternative could be one in which all the above mentioned basic components could be made available on a single circuit board. Such devices are called as Single board computers (SBC) with microprocessor, memory, input, output and other functional requirements of a computer being integrated onto a single printed circuit board. Unlike traditional computers the SBC do not rely on expansion slots, have simple design, static RAM, compact space-saving format, portable and hence face huge community support.

B. Alternative through Raspberry Pi based system.

In the wearable computer that has been designed, Raspberry Pi has been chosen to replace the CPU of the desktop. Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized SBC that was developed by the Raspberry Pi foundation based in U.K. It has RAM capabilities of 1GB, graphical processing unit, Ethernet, USB hub and storage through Micro SDHC. A flavor of Linux based operating system could be mounted on the SDHC. Going further monitor could be replaced by High definition video glasses that would be connected to the GPIO (Graphical Input Output) pins of the Raspberry Pi. The High definition video glasses primarily used for gaming purposes is a well-supported alternative that could be used to view the output. Inorder to interact with the computer a wireless touch pad is used that would server the purpose of a mouse and a keyboard.

The design would hence look like a user wearing the glasses, operating it through the touchpad held in his hands and the Raspberry Pi being fitted to one’s pocket. The Pi being a light weight computer and power being constantly supplied through the USB Battery pack would hence make it more convenient for the user to work at ease.

All the activities that is supported by a computer could be done on this wearable device. It supports gaming, user friendly open source operating system, browsing, documentation, computing, data security, multitasking to quote a few. The advantage that this computer brings to the table without compromising on the functional utilities of a computer are the expansion capabilities, built in HDMI that can handle high resolutions, Affordable , Overclocking capabilities in case of performance problems , low power consumption of about 3.0W and could be carried around everywhere

With the world moving an edge towards connecting all the things around to the Internet, it would be important for a user to be connected to the digital world around the clock, this computer design would hence bring it to reality.

Fig.1.Raspberry Pi based system.

Fig.2. Port connections for connecting the HD Video glasses to Raspberry pi.

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Acts as Monitor

Wears HD glasses

Control

Fig.3. Design of the Wearable Computer.

C. Performance and cost analysis table .

IV. CONCLUSION

Through this study we have demonstrated how computers

could be made affordable by anyone irrespective of their

social conditions. The ease of working anywhere and being

able to perform all the activities of a traditional desktop

computer is being demonstrated. Raspberry Pi based systems

have huge potential in diversified fields such as robotics,

UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicles),weather monitoring

systems, gaming world, surveillance, automation systems any

many more.

The system is reliable and affordable. We have looked at

technology the other way by giving sight to the digital world

by being connected to it always.

V. FURTHER ENHANCEMENTS

This system has its advantages but has compromised on the ARM architecture of the Pi. It also has the disadvantage of the glasses being held very close to the eyes, this could be replaced with a small hand held display.

The wearable computer could be further improvised by fixing a small barcode scanner to the video glass which could be used to scan the barcode of products in a super market and to enable the user to choose the product that is best suited for him even without touching the product, by the information that would be displayed on the video glasses. Another perspective of looking at it would be by programming the device to enable easy or smart driving by alerting the driver of a traffic jam, wrong routes or accidents that could be avoided.

Raspberry Pi based computers have wide scope for enhancements. They could be specifically used to address specialized needs or for multi-purpose systems. Computers everywhere being the need of the hour, it could be impossible at times owing to their huge size and cost. Raspberry Pi based systems could be an effective alternative at such situations. These computers could be used in surveillance systems to operate the device that could be remotely controlled, in plant monitoring systems to check the growth of the plants, weather monitoring systems, setting up a home server, home automation systems and much more.

VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors thank Sreelatha R (Assistant Professor, Information Science Department, BMSCE) for her constant guidance and support throughout the completion of the study.

VII. REFERENCES

[1] Bass, L., Siewiorek, D., Smailagic, A., Stivoric, J. ``On Site Wearable

Computer System'', CHI 95 Conference Companion, pp 83-84, Denver, May 1995.

[2] Norman, D. and Draper, S. ``User Centered Systems Design'', Erbaum, 1986.

[3] raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-compute-module-new-product

[4] Edward O. Thorp,"Optimal gambling systems for favorable game." Review of the International Statistical Institute, V. 37:3, 1969, pp. 273–293..

[5] Tara Kieffner. "Wearable Computers: An Overview"

[6] Anne Eisenberg Inside These Lenses, a Digital Dimension April 25, 2009 New York Times

[7] "Tech specs". Google. Retrieved 20 April 2013

[8] Wearable Computing Devices, Like Apple’s iWatch, Will Exceed 485 Million Annual Shipments by 2018, ABI Research

Features Traditional computer

Raspberry Pi based computer

Price Minimum price of 20,000 INR.

4000 INR.

CPU Personal computers use Intel core these

days

700MHz ARM1176JZF –

S Core

Memory Powerful RAM up to 8gb

512MB

USB Ports 4-5 4(integrated USB Hub) with B+

model

Onboard storage External or Internal devices supplemented with powerful

RAM

Micro SD

Portable

No Yes

Wireless

trackpad

Raspberry

Pi

User

USB,

Ethernet,

HDMI Play audio, video,

browse,

documentation.

Do all that you

would do on a

computer. Carry

me anywhere!!

Dharani Sethuram et al , International Journal of Computer Science & Communication Networks,Vol 5(3),166-168

168

ISSN:2249-5789