TEMPO 3.1: A Body Area Sensor Network Platform for Continuous Movement Assessment

Abstract

This work presents TEMPO (Technology-Enabled Medical Precision Observation) 3.1, a third generation body area sensor platform that accurately and precisely captures, processes, and wirelessly transmits six-degrees-of-freedom inertial data in a wearable, non-invasive form factor. TEMPO 3.1 is designed to be usable to both the wearer and researcher, thereby enabling motion capture applications in body area sensor networks (BASNs). A complete system is designed and developed that includes the following: (1) enabling technologies and hardware design of TEMPO 3.1, (2) a custom real-time operating system (TEMPOS) that manages all aspects of signal acquisition, signal processing, data management, peripheral control, and wireless communication on a TEMPO node, and (3) a custom case design. The system is evaluated and compared to existing BASN hardware platforms. TEMPO 3.1 creates new opportunities for wearable, continuous monitoring applications and extends the research space of current efforts.