Functionality-power-packaging considerations in context aware wearable systems

Wearable computing places tighter constraints on architecture design than traditional mobile computing. The architecture is described in terms of miniaturization, power-awareness, global low-power design and suitability for an application. In this article we present a new methodology based on three different system properties. Functionality, power and electronic Packaging metrics are proposed and evaluated to study different trade offs. We analyze the trade offs in different context recognition scenarios. The proof of concept case study is analyzed by studying (a) interaction with household appliances by a wrist worn device (acceleration, light sensors) (b) studying walking behavior with acceleration sensors, (c) computational task and (d) gesture recognition in a wood-workshop using the combination of accelerometer and microphone sensors. After analyzing the case study, we highlight the size aspect by electronic packaging for a given functionality and present the miniaturization trends for ‘autonomous sensor button’.