Poster: Towards Radio-based Sensing on Wearables

The popularity of wearables continues to rise. However, their functions and applications are constrained by the types of sensors that are currently available. Inertial sensors can only track motions of body parts to which they are attached. Microphones and cameras are powerful but also capture privacy sensitive information. Physiological sensors are intrusive since firm skin contact is necessity. Recently, radio-based sensing has drawn significant attention as it provides a contactless and privacy-preserving approach to detect and monitor human activities. In this work, we demonstrate the search for a new sensing modality for the next generation of wearable devices by exploring the feasibility of radio-based human activity sensing and vital sign monitoring in the context of wearable setting. We envision radio-based sensing has the potential to fundamentally transform wearables as we currently know them. First, we have developed HeadScan, a first-of-its-kind wearable for radio-based sensing of a number of human activities that involve head and mouth movements include eating, drinking, coughing, and speaking. Experimental results highlight the enormous potential of our radio-based sensing approach and provide guidance to future explorations. Second, we have developed BodyScan, a wearable system for radio sensing of human whole body movement. Experimental results indicate that BodyScan is capable of capturing whole body activities with a lifetime of 15 hours.