Design and Implementation of a Wearable Safety Suit

Markus Aleksy^1*, Marko Lehtola¹, and Anil Puchakayala²

¹Industrial Software Systems Program
ABB Corporate Research
Ladenburg, Germany
markus.aleksy@de.abb.com, marko.lehtola@se.abb.com

²Department of Information Technology and Media
Mid Sweden University
Sundsvall, Sweden
anpu1000@student.miun.se

Abstract

Wearable computing promises gaining efficiency improvements in industrial applications due to augmentation of sensing and computational devices, thus improving the interaction between the user and the machine interface. Devices such as head mounted displays (HMDs) or wrist-mounted computers help delivering tailored information to the user while enabling hands-free operations. Sensors sewn into clothing increase the safety of maintenance and service staff by collecting information related to environmental conditions such as gas levels or temperature as well as health conditions of the wearer. In this paper, we present a wearable safety suit which integrates various sensors and is operated via a mobile device. In our prototype, we use different types of sensors for monitoring environmental and health conditions like temperature, carbon monoxide (CO) gas levels, relative humidity, body temperature, and heartbeat. The wearable safety suit is controlled via a mobile application. The latter monitors the sensor data, identifies environmental changes, and provides alerts to the user and/or a remote control center. Keeping the usage of wearable safety suit in mind, the system is designed in a user friendly manner.

Keywords: Wearable computing, mobile computing, service science

*Corresponding Author: ABB AG, Corporate Research Center Germani,Wallstadter Straße 59, 68526 Ladenburg, Germany, Tel: +49-6203-716293, Fax: +49-6203-716253

IT Convergence Practice (INPRA), Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 28-36, March 2013 [pdf]