Shaopeng Liu

Energy-efficient and data synchronized body sensor network for physical activity measurement

Measurement of human physical activity (PA) is important for assessing the health state. A wireless multi-sensor integrated measurement system (WIMS) has been designed for measurement of the activity types and intensities of human subjects under free-living conditions. To address challenges posted by the limited battery life and asynchronous data among multiple sensors in the WIMS system, a ZigBee-based wireless platform has been designed, prototyped, and experimentally evaluated. Multi-Data-Packaging and Slot-Data-Synchronization algorithms have been developed improved energy efficiency. Experiments have shown that the design enables continued operation of the wearable system for over 30 hours, with data synchronization error among the various sensor nodes being less than 6 ms. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the energy-efficient wireless design for human physical activity monitoring.

Plug-and-play sensor platform for legacy industrial machine monitoring

In this paper, we describe a plug-and-play sensor platform for legacy industrial machine pervasive monitoring, which was designed, developed and implemented in one of GEs manufacturing facilities. The presented solution is a low cost, small footprint method for real-time visibility into auxiliary equipment critical to manufacturing operations. The solution was largely enabled by low cost wireless sensors and open source edge-devices and software. Specifically, the hardware consists of sensor nodes that monitor the machines status, and a gateway unit that connects these nodes with command and control in the cloud. Benefits of the presented sensor platform include enhanced productivity, improved energy efficiency and reduced costs by enabling manufacturers to rapidly gain new knowledge and insights into their operations through real-time visibility of critical equipment health.