Wearable technology
Wearable technology is a hot topic in 2014. Defined as any wirelessly-connected electronic accessory worn on the body or on clothing, these accessories, or devices, use small, energy-efficient chips to process information and provide some form of feedback to the user.
The calculator-wristwatch of the 1980s is an early form of wearable technology. Worn on the wrist and providing both a digital clock and basic calculator in a form factor not so different from a regular watch, the calculator-wristwatch is arguably the forerunner to the multi-function smartwatches that are in abundance today.
Fast-forward 30 years and wearable technology has taken off because there's been a convergence of low-power, feature-rich processors and sensors, powered primarily by the ARM® architecture, and, crucially, the ability to share data between other devices or users via a wireless connection and through the Internet.
Wearable technology takes many forms and covers a multitude of budgets. As of mid-2014, it can be broadly split into three identifiable camps:
For sport
In this field, wearable technology often takes the form of activity-tracking devices such as the Fitbit, Nike and Samsung wrist-worn bands that provide feedback such as total distance covered, speed, calorie consumption and the like. Often using multiple ARM-based sensors - for computing and wireless transfer of data via Bluetooth - these relatively inexpensive examples of wearable technology provide motivation and performance comparison through software applications that can be viewed on smartphones, tablets and computers.
Sports-based wearable technology can often be more complex. Companies such as Garmin and Polar manufacture high-performance devices for recreational and professional athletes. These devices, either worn on the body or mounted, for example, on a bike, provide a dizzying array of feedback, including heart-rate, power, altitude, cadence, speed and energy consumption, to but scratch the surface.
For medical
Usually wearable technology refers to devices that are added and taken off with ease. In the medical field, however, this technology is as simple as an easily-removed heart-rate or blood-pressure monitor or, at the other end of the scale, subcutaneous sensors used to measure, say, long-term glucose levels for patients at particular risk.
With the medical field ripe for sensor-driven data, new products are coming to market every week. Companies are investing in skin-friendly, body-worn sensors that measure breathing, quality of sleep and then relay this information, wirelessly, to apps on smartphones/tablets or directly to the person's health advisor. If it is measurable and transmittable in any meaningful way, there's likely to be a company building such a wearable-technology device today.
For leisure and work
Wearable technology needn't have a specific health-improving purpose in mind. An example of such a device is Google Glass, which is a small computer integrated into eyewear. With a built-in heads-up display (HUD) and voice activation, it allows users to interact with information much as they would do on a traditional smartphone, albeit in a hands-free way.
And then there are a raft of smartwatches. These provide at-a-glance information users would otherwise see on their smartphones - emails, calendars and basic applications. The purpose is to move the viewing away from smartphones and tablets to an always-worn device.
We're at the vanguard of the wearable-technology revolution. First-generation devices show what's possible, and through the use of improved hardware and increased efficiency, underscored by the ARM architecture, the next generation of wearables are sure to offer better performance and much-improved battery life.
