CI-P: Development of Community Infrastructure for Body Sensor Network Research, Education, and Support

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

Body sensor networks (BSNs) represent an emerging area of research with significant scientific and technical challenges but with tremendous potential to impact a variety of application domains--most notably healthcare and medical research. While significant advancements are being made in this area, most efforts are isolated and independent, limiting the collective progress and making it difficult for new researchers to enter the field. This planning project establishes a foundation for the development of community research, education, and support infrastructure to help advance the field of BSNs. The project activities include 1) soliciting input from a broad community of researchers, educators, and domain experts to establish the consensus needs of the BSN community; 2) developing initial models for BSN hardware, software, and support infrastructure; and 3) developing a business model to ensure that cost is not a barrier to BSN research, education, or application. The ultimate goals of this project are to 1) increase the relevance and practicality of BSN research and development by enabling engineers to experiment with standardized physical systems and achieve more practical results; 2) empower new researchers and educators to enter the field with an inexpensive, substantial, and ultimately self-sustaining support infrastructure; and 3) provide teachers at all levels of education the infrastructure and educational modules to incorporate BSNs into their classrooms and laboratories, providing hands-on experiences through which students can see how computer science and engineering can have a direct impact on human health and quality of life.