Current Projects
Energy Scavenging Methodologies for Wireless Sensor Nodes (WSNs)
Presently, in the process of studying various energy scavenging methods for wireless sensor nodes and implementing a smart power management scheme for such applications. Some of the methods include solar, piezoelectric vibration generators, and energy from thermal gradients and air flow. Chipcon CC2430 and Crossbow MICAz motes are being programmed with energy efficient wireless protocols similar to Zigbee or Dust networks. Also, we are in the process of designing in-house EACG motes that primarily consist of a TI MSP430 micrococontroller and Chipcon CC2420 transceiver. Several potential applications in the biomedical and environmental arenas are being explored.
WSNs for Remote Health Monitoring
We are specifically focussing on developing systems to detect and monitor patient vital sign information for in-hospital and at-home healthcare. This project involves use of different sensors such as pulse-oximeters, ECG, blood glucose, and blood pressure that are interfaced to miniature WSNs. The sensors can be easily strapped onto a patient for monitoring data. The measured data is in-turn routed via several router nodes in a multi-hop fashion to a base-station that has access to a remote database via LAN, WiFi, GSM and other means. Caregivers can have access to the patient database to facilitate continuous physician monitoring.
Additional details about the above two projects are available at the following link and in the posters included below. Also, please refer to the presentations and publications sections for more details. (EACG poster, UTMetroplex2006 poster)