Mobile Solutions

‘Computing anytime, anything and anywhere’ – the ‘Mobile Solutions’ concerted activity is realising Thad Starner’s vision. Application fields range from logistics, production and maintenance to health care and emergency medicine through to assistance systems in living and working environments. TZI researchers are thus laying the information technology foundations for a new wave of computerisation – IT is moving into living and work areas where it has not previously been possible to provide support to people on the move. Thus in future a service technician will be able to access all the data he needs on site, either near to or on a plane. The only mobile technology he will need to do this will be located in his jacket: a mini-computer, a keyboard and a head-mounted display. The technician can control his ‘PC’ by moving a dataglove – since, obviously, he doesn’t have a hand free to use a mouse. This example demonstrates that wearable computing applications are already as much a part of everyday life as car satellite navigation systems. For over ten years researchers have been working together with partners from industry, medium-sized companies and society on diverse transfer projects to develop user-oriented solutions in the fields of wearable computing, ambient assisted living (AAL) and intelligent clothing (known as ‘smart textiles’). 

Visitors can see market-ready prototypes at the Democenter, which, in future, will also present current exhibits from all concerted activity fields. The Democenter, originally part of the Mobile Research Centre (MRC), is now run by the TZI. This is also the case for the MRC itself, whose cross-university, successful projects and activities will in future be coordinated within the Mobile Solutions concerted activity. The elementary technologies for the research and development of such mobile solutions are Smart Textiles for the integration of electronics and computer technologies into textiles; RFID for localisation and registration; image processing for recognition of visual patterns or for recognition of gestures and artificial intelligence (AI) for the development of strategies for adaptivity and awareness as well as to meet special requirements for interaction via mobile human-computer interfaces. In the fields of wearable computing and intelligent textiles established technologies are being used to research and develop basics, which in turn provide the basis for application-oriented research in various fields. The specific focus in this context is on the design of mobile solutions and intelligent clothing and the definition of adapted interaction strategies. In the final analysis, application research lays the foundations for development projects.