QUIK just ahead of its time till ’bout now?

QuickLogic was one of the first companies to identify this need and to act on it.

By having a range of computing engines – from conventional applications processors to MCUs to GPUs to FPGA-based accelerators, these devices have the potential to
optimally match the best kind of compute engine with each part of an application.

AM i looking forward to the S3?

You bet, been looking forward to it for some time. I think I know what to expect, but won’t have it completely right.
Will it come with new algos?

I think it has to, otherwise it will just be a piece of silicon QUIK want it to fit this snip

what jobs a chip is intended for.

1. Motion Compensated HRo more accurate than anything up till now.

2. Audio input into devices- to keep pace with others here.

3. PDR- THe most accurate also to make for good Indoor loacation.

ALways keep something to look forward to and for QUIK the next 6 months will be the best in some yrs.
For some the glass is not only half empty, but down to the last drop.
I see it as more than half full and poised to overflow in the future.

Thats what makes a market.

Kevin Morris was the author of this essay. He knows his stuff, his essays, like Paul McW> work are worthy of multiple reads to understand it.

SO let’s try taking his advice and apply it to the business some of us own part of.

In fact, looking at the “how” can be a dangerous distraction from the “what” – which is where the real competition happens in semiconductors

The S3, we will just skip the how for a minute, the details of the FFE, the ARM 4 core and it FPU. What will it allow…

1. Motion Compensated HRo more accurate than anything up till now.

2. Audio input into devices- to keep pace with others here.

3. PDR- THe most accurate also to make for good Indoor loacation.

It will run compute intense algos that put MCUs into the red zone, 1,2 and 3 above. Accuracy of the algos will be part of the selling point. Its nice for those not tech savy as if we listen to Kevin M. just forget the HOW and see if the What resonates.

May 5, 2015

The Changing Customizability Continuum

ASIC, ASSP, CSSP, FPGA, SoC, MPSoC, GPU, MPU, CPU

by Kevin Morris

We spend a lot of time in the semiconductor business trying to put chips into bins. We in the press and those in the analyst community are constantly struggling to label particular semiconductor devices, and financial types are always trying to figure out what “market” a particular chip belongs in. As Moore’s Law has pushed us into higher and higher levels of integration, most of the interesting devices out there have a little bit of everything in them.

Consider, for example, the upcoming Zynq UltraScale+ devices recently announced by Xilinx. Even though Xilinx is an FPGA company, and even though a substantial amount of Zynq chip area is taken up by FPGA fabric, Xilinx does not call Zynq devices “FPGAs.” The company has bounced around various monikers over the years. (Do you remember “Extensible Processing Platforms”?) We refer to this category of devices as “Heterogeneous Integrated Processing Platforms (HIPPs).” Xilinx has recently fallen into calling them “MPSoCs” for “Multicore and Multiprocessor Systems on Chip”. (We don’t love that name because it seems like it would fit just about any SoC with more than one processor core on it, and it makes no reference to the presence of the FPGA fabric, which is the chip’s primary differentiator.) Altera has similar devices, which they refer to simply as “SoC FPGAs.” And, while that title wins in terms of elegant simplicity, it falls short when it comes to expressing the dramatic change in capability represented by this category of chip. 

Anyway, a Zynq UltraScale+ device (and likely also a next-generation Altera SoC FPGA) will contain multiple 64-bit CPUs, an MPU, a GPU, FPGA fabric, memory, sophisticated IOs, DSP resources, analog, digital - just about anything you can name except possibly RF and power circuitry. It’s no wonder we have a hard time classifying “all but the kitchen sink” devices like this.

Instead of looking at what’s inside, we should be thinking about what jobs a chip is intended for. If we look at a device’s intended application, that gives us a much more realistic view of the “market” than if we look at the kinds of transistors and the type of architecture inside the chip that lets it accomplish its task. In fact, looking at the “how” can be a dangerous distraction from the “what” - which is where the real competition happens in semiconductors. 

Let’s take a couple of examples, and let’s start with one of our favorites - the “FPGA” market. The term “FPGA” definitely refers to a chip architecture - a way of structuring the transistors on a chip - and not to any particular application. In fact, FPGAs can be used on an enormous range of applications - from communications and networking infrastructure to consumer to industrial automation to automotive to military/aerospace to computing. And each of those vertical markets, and each of the applications within them, might require a different kind of FPGA. Furthermore, in many of those markets and applications, FPGAs compete against other types of chips that provide the same or similar capabilities.

And the gamut of FPGA types is extreme - ranging from tiny, ultra-low-power mobile-oriented devices like those Lattice Semiconductor sells for pennies - to enormous, power-hungry, multi-billion-transistor behemoths like Xilinx Virtex and Altera Stratix that can sell for tens of thousands of dollars per copy. Of course, the tiny devices never compete with the large devices, and they mostly never even sell into the same vertical markets. The only thing they have in common is a particular similarity in the way the transistors are structured on the chip. And even that doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny if you’re trying to make a case that the two things are the same, or that they belong to the same “family” of semiconductors.

What this leads us to is the reality that there is no such thing as “the FPGA market.” FPGAs compete in a number of markets, and their competition is often other types of chips that are not FPGAs. For digital-signal-processing applications, for example, FPGAs compete with DSP processors. For video applications, FPGAs compete with a number of ASSPs. In many control applications, FPGAs compete with microcontrollers (MCUs), and now, in high-performance computing, FPGAs (and SoC FPGAs) find themselves competing against traditional CPUs and GPUs.

The biggest weapon FPGAs bring to each of those contests is configurability. When going up against an application-specific standard part, FPGAs would typically lose out on cost, power consumption, and/or performance. But throw in the configurability of the FPGA and the device can hit a much larger target. It may be able to handle applications that the ASSP cannot. In fact, in many applications, an FPGA is often used in conjunction with an ASSP - to morph the ASSP into a particular version of the application that it wasn’t quite designed to handle in the first place. And, if FPGAs are available with the right hardened IP inside, they can often then replace the ASSP altogether.

If we back up and defocus a bit more, paying attention to the concept of configurability, we can see a huge range in devices suited to various applications. For some jobs, you could do them with the most configurable solution of all - a conventional processor with the entire application in software. Or, you could do them with the least configurable solution - a custom-made ASIC. The performance, unit cost, power consumption, and form-factor attributes of each solution will vary widely. Typically, the less-configurable solution is outperformed by the more-configurable one because of functions that are realized in optimized hardware.

So, what we really need are solutions with both attributes - optimized hardware for the critical bits, and configurability to adapt to the widest possible set of situations and applications. Interestingly, QuickLogic was one of the first companies to identify this need and to act on it. Many years ago, the company coined a device category they call “Customer-Specific Standard Parts (CSSP),” which are basically ASSPs with some FPGA fabric built in for customer- and application-specific customization. Today, Lattice Semiconductor is following a similar trend with small PLDs optimized for particular application areas by virtue of the selection of hardened IP they have on chip.

At the other end of this spectrum are the new HIPPs/MPSoCs/SoC FPGAs. These devices take the maximum configurability of conventional processors and pair it with the hardware configurability of FPGA fabric. On the surface, these would seem to be the most configurable and universal devices of all - like some kind of “Swiss Army” chips. But, do they suffer the same shortcomings as Swiss Army knives - jack of all trades, and master of none? As long as the task is “computing,” probably not. By having a range of computing engines - from conventional applications processors to MCUs to GPUs to FPGA-based accelerators, these devices have the potential to optimally match the best kind of compute engine with each part of an application.

With the exponential increase in non-recurring engineering (NRE) cost to design a new chip with each new process node, the minimum volume required to justify the creation of a unique device is getting higher. So, in many cases, it won’t make economic sense to produce an ASSP for a highly focused application. But, if that ASSP had enough configurability to allow it to solve a wider range of problems, the cost of producing it would be amortized over a higher volume. 

That means we’ll probably be seeing more ASSPs with programmable logic fabric and processors on them, or we’ll be seeing more application-specific versions of FPGAs. The continuum of configurability will let us find the sweet spot between performance and flexibility.

NEWS & PRESS: MIG NEWS

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JANUSZ BRYZEK JOINS MEMS INDUSTRY GROUP TO LEAD NEW TSENSORS DIVISION Thursday, May 14, 2015   (0 Comments) Posted by: MEMS Industry Group More Sharing ServicesShare|Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on gmailShare on pinterest_share - New Division will Focus on Accelerating Development of Emerging Ultra-high Volume Sensors Supporting Abundance, mHealth and IoT PITTSBURGH -- (May 14, 2015) -- MEMS Industry Group® (MIG), the trade association advancing micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors across global markets, today announced the creation of a new TSensors division headed byTSensors Summit, Inc. Founder Dr. Janusz Bryzek. MIG’s new division will extend TSensors Summit’s visionary efforts to accelerate a world in which everyone has access to “Abundance” -- food, safe water, clean air, healthcare and other vital resources -- through the foundational use of sensors and MEMS. “TSensors has proven itself to be vibrant and incredibly innovative, with initiatives designed to positively change the human experience through the widespread adoption of sensors,” said Karen Lightman, executive director, MEMS Industry Group. “Clearly this is an ambitious goal -- but with the success of past TSensors Summits, combined with MIG’s global membership base and organizational structure, I am confident that this goal has a greater potential for realization. We are thrilled to welcome Janusz Bryzek and the TSensors community to MIG. Together we aim to realize the vision of trillions of sensors improving the quality of people’s lives.” “One of the greatest strengths of TSensors Summit has been our visionary speakers, who have given TED-like talks while outlining an amazing future enabled by new sensor-based systems,” said Dr. Janusz Bryzek, TSensors Summit founder, now heading MIG’s TSensors division. “By joining MEMS Industry Group -- with its depth in promoting MEMS commercialization -- we will be able to increase the momentum and breadth of TSensors’ initiatives. This will help to both accelerate solutions to major global problems through the use of sensor-based systems as well as to bring unprecedented business opportunities to member companies involved in the design and production of sensor-related products and services.” TSensors Summit – a MEMS Industry Group® Enterprise will take place on December 9-10, 2015 in Orlando, FL. For more information and to register, please visit: http://tsensorssummit.org/orlandosummithom.html

Fujitsu really gets it!

#5061REPLY

this will be a long term project.

As a focus of their corporation they have had sensors, fusion, IoT in focus for some YRS.now.

SO I will track their vision along.

Fujitsu’s new wearables might not be sexy, but they could save your life
J.T. QuigleyJ.T. Quigley
6:31 pm on May 12, 2015

When people think about the term wearable tech, many probably conjure up images of Google Glass and Apple Watch. These kinds of wearables understandably steal headlines – they’re often made by some of the biggest names in tech and are perceived as fashion statements. It’s only a matter of time before US Weekly puts together an exposé on how many celebrities are wearing the gold Apple Watch Edition.

Love them or hate them, consumer wearables are sexy – especially for those of us in the media. But it’s the decidedly un-sexy enterprise wearables that may become the unsung heroes of the smart gadget movement. Sure, you might not be able to use them for Instragramming, but enterprise wearables could help maintain all of that behind-the-scenes infrastructure that keeps the world spinning – all while potentially saving lives (perhaps even jobs) in the process.

Japanese tech giant Fujitsu had four of its latest enterprise wearables on display in Tokyo yesterday. Here’s how they’re going to change the world, even if you never see them in person.

FEELythm
Feelthym

First announced back in January, FEELthym is a unique wearable device for long-haul truck, bus, and taxi drivers. It features two main parts: the wearable itself and a receiver unit that can be mounted inside the vehicle’s cabin.
Worn around the neck and shoulders, FEELthym utilizes a pulse sensor that clips to a driver’s earlobe. Using

an algorithm

developed by Fujitsu Laboratories, the pulse sensor can gauge drowsiness. If it detects that a wearer is on the verge of falling asleep, it can trigger a gentle vibration in the neck unit or initiate an audio warning. The data is also transmitted to the fleet’s dispatch personnel, who can preemptively radio in with the driver and check on their condition if the pulse data indicates that they’re feeling fatigued.

Really nice!

FEELthym is also equipped with a learning function

Dr Saxe speaks of this learning in his talks..

.. that allows it to improve the accuracy of drowsiness detection on a per-driver basis. Information is stored in the cloud and shared with fleet management, allowing them to analyze potentially dangerous routes or at-risk drivers. The device’s battery lasts for five days on a single charge.

According to Fujitsu – citing data from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport – nearly 70 percent of motor vehicle accidents in recent years have been the result of human error not attributable to driving violations or skill. FEELthym has real potential to save the lives of professional drivers and the ordinary people who share the road with them. The device went on sale in March.

Ubiquitousware HMD
FujitsuHMD2

Fujitsu’s head-mounted display (HMD), revealed to the public yesterday, is the latest offering in its enterprise-focused internet of things (IoT) initiative – dubbed Ubiquitousware. It features a 0.4-inch display, a camera, two microphones, and an array of sensors – each of which can be operated with an arm-mounted keyboard or voice controls.

The firm is positioning the HMD as a support tool for infrastructure maintenance and assembly work. The camera allows a remote monitor to see exactly what the wearer is seeing, and the display can be used to show directions and other particulars. A demonstration I was able to participate in simulated a simple repair to a radio antenna. When I looked at the antenna, a QR code attached to it triggered the support staff, who told me via the headset’s speakers to unscrew one of the cables. They even drew a virtual arrow that appeared in the display, showing me exactly which one they were talking about.

HMD3

Doing away with physical instruction manuals and going hands-free creates a safer work environment. It also minimizes the number of on-site staff required per project, as one person can complete a variety of tasks with remote instruction from an off-site expert. Instead of older, highly-experienced workers going into early retirement, they can leverage their specialized knowledge by helping younger staff complete difficult tasks remotely – an important selling point in aging, shrinking Japan.

Because it’s designed to work in rugged environments, Fujitsu’s HMD is water- and dust-resistant and can survive a 1.5-meter fall. A light sensor automatically adjusts the display depending on external brightness, and the battery lasts for approximately four hours. It runs on Android 4.4 KitKat and comes equipped with a 1.2GHz quad-core processor. It’s on sale to enterprise customers in Japan as of yesterday, but specific pricing wasn’t revealed at the press conference.

Ubiquitousware location badge
Fujitsubadge

Another part of the Ubuiquitousware line is the deceptively plain location badge. The white plastic badges are about the same size as a standard office badge or name tag, but each is equipped with “pedestrian dead reckoning” (PDR) technology. PDR utilizes an accelerometer, combined with standard GPS, to provide highly accurate location data even when a wearer is inside a building (it’s also the same tech that allows your smartphone to be used as a compass).

Fujitsu’s location badges are so accurate that they can even detect when a wearer has fallen down. At the press conference, a Fujitsu staff member demonstrated this feature by pushing a mannequin wearing the badge onto the floor. A large display showing a simulated warehouse floor received an alert for the “employee” as soon as the mannequin hit the ground.

The badge’s precise readings can also be used to alert a floor manager when a staff member has ascended a wobbly ladder or if they’re driving too fast on a forklift, for example. No one wants to be nagged by the boss, but real-time monitoring could lead to fewer accidents in warehouses and factories where the technology is deployed.

Doctors and nurses at a hospital in Finland are currently testing the location badge’s capabilities. In addition to knowing where personnel with specific specialities are at any given time, location tags are also being used for medical equipment to prevent loss or misplacement.

Ubiquitousware vital-sign sensing band
Fujitsuband

Fujitsu’s vital-sensing band collects data about a wearer’s physical well being and changes his or her environment. It includes sensors for pulse rate, temperature, location, and humidity. Using what the firms calls its “Human-Centric Engine,” custom algorithms can monitor stress levels and fatigue, allowing managers to view a remote snapshot of each worker’s physical condition.

Add Fujitsu to a company that has their own algos…”Human-Centric engine” that could be ported onto an S3?
So there are more such companies than we realize…Jawbone, Fitbit, Fujitsu….many others.
One demonstration showed a mannequin wearing the band under a heat lamp to mimic working at a hot construction site. As the thermometer approached 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), an alert was sent to the monitoring screen to inform management that the weather was becoming dangerously hot. Such monitoring could save outdoor workers from heat stroke or hypothermia, allowing site managers to better implement break times.
Fujitsutest
Speaking of breaks – because the wearable also utilizes location-tracking technology, supervisors can tell if a worker has decided to post up in the cafeteria for too long (and the pulse monitor can probably tell if someone’s fallen asleep on the job). Like the location badge, it can also detect falls and other accidents.
Fujitsu’s vital-sensing band is currently being tested by Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization. If a farmer tips over while using farm equipment – like a tractor – and doesn’t stand back up in a specified amount of time, the band will send an alert to his or her colleagues and family members.
The current iteration is a solid black square, devoid of a screen or buttons, with the company’s simple infinity logo in the center. A Fujitsu spokesperson told Tech in Asia that future versions could be upgraded with screens, alert lights, or vibration functions.
Both the location badge and vital-sensing band are scheduled for a public debut in December.
Editing by Steven Millward
Very nice- well thought out devices. The segment of enterprise wearables may not be as sexy as the Apple watch, but you have to like what these things do?
For the casual reader, Fujitsu has been focused on this for some yrs already and these devices show it.

#5062EDIT | REPLY

When you think in house algos start to realize its not just Apple and Samsung…

these guys have it well thought out…

Source: Fujitsu Ltd

Fujitsu Develops UBIQUITOUSWARE, an Internet-of-Things Package that Accelerates Transformation of Business
Uses sensing and proprietary analysis algorithms to quickly provide valuable, actionable data for businesses

Fujitsu today announced that it has developed FUJITSU IoT Solution UBIQUITOUSWARE, an Internet-of-Things package that senses the status of people and things and their surrounding environments and analyzes the data to quickly provide valuable, actionable data tailored to a customer’s business. This seems better to me than Samsungs ARTIK……
UBIQUITOUSWARE Overview

TOKYO, May 11, 2015 – (JCN Newswire) – Fujitsu today announced that it has developed FUJITSU IoT Solution UBIQUITOUSWARE, an Internet-of-Things package that senses the status of people and things and their surrounding environments and analyzes the data to quickly provide valuable, actionable data tailored to a customer’s business.

The package consists of UBIQUITOUSWARE core modules that, in combination with sensors, microcontrollers and wireless communication function to analyze sensing data

QUIK can you get these guys to have your S3 in the ecosystem? THanks in advance.

. These core modules work in tandem with middleware that uses sensors to learn and analyze data in the cloud. Sensing data is analyzed using the Human-Centric Engine, Fujitsu’s proprietary algorithms, which convert data into information that customers can put to use quickly, such as fall-detection or body-posture detection.
UBIQUITOUSWARE is available as a package of modules and middleware that is easily installed in existing devices and systems. The first example of a device embedded with UBIQUITOUSWARE is the UBIQUITOUSWARE Head Mounted Display, announced today. Location badges, vital-sign sensing bands, and other products will be rolled out beginning December 2015.

Fujitsu has begun field testing of UBIQUITOUSWARE with customers and is making initiatives toward its deployment within the Fujitsu Group. The results of these efforts will be used to expand its IoT business into a variety of fields.

As the era of the Internet of Things approaches, Fujitsu is pursuing Human-Centric IoT initiatives to help companies

I really like their focus as its not the same, ie enterprise…

develop new and valuable lines of business using a wide range of digital information. Building on the base of its Human-Centric Engine that it has developed through PCs and mobile devices, the company is now offering UBIQUITOUSWARE as the front-end interface for Human-Centric IoT.

Prototypes of new devices with embedded UBIQUITOUSWARE will be exhibited at Fujitsu Forum 2015, running May 14-15 at Tokyo International Forum.

About UBIQUITOUSWARE

The package consists of UBIQUITOUSWARE core modules, which combine a variety of sensors commonly found in ubiquitous products, such as accelerometers and barometers, custom microcontrollers that directly control the sensors and analyze their data, and wireless communications using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE, (1)), together with sensor middleware that learns and analyses data in the cloud and that can be used on multiple platforms, including Fujitsu’s own IoT platform.

UBIQUITOUSWARE can be easily integrated with a company’s existing equipment and systems. In addition, by Fujitsu offering UBIQUITOUSWARE-embedded devices customers will be able achieve fast deployments. Moreover, to support the IoT business transformations of customers, Fujitsu is providing data that customers can use as is from its Human-Centric Engine, which analyzes sensor data using proprietary algorithms Fujitsu has refined through its development of ubiquitous-computing products.

Features of UBIQUITOUSWARE

UBIQUITOUSWARE is an IoT package that, in addition to regular BLE beacon tag functionality, enables the acquisition of data from a wide variety of sensors.

1. About the UBIQUITOUSWARE core module

The UBIQUITOUSWARE core module is a module that packages together a collection of sensors (accelerometers, barometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes, and microphones), LSI devices equipped with the Human-Centric Engine, and BLE communications. Companies have the option to include other sensors to meet the needs of their businesses, including pulse sensors and GPS, for example.

2. About the middleware for sensors

1) Sensing middleware

Sensing middleware is middleware with analysis algorithms that detects whether something is in a normal or abnormal state based on data collected from sensing devices that use the UBIQUITOUSWARE core module, such as whether a person is standing or has fallen.
2) Location middleware

Location middleware is middleware that provides location information on people or things within a pre-set indoor or outdoor area based on data collected from sensing devices.

Sample Functions Implemented in UBIQUITOUSWARE

– Workout intensity measurement: Calculates amount of exercise and calories burned based on body movements.
– Posture detection: Body movements are captured in 3D to track a body’s posture, such as whether it is standing, sitting, or lying down.
– Fall detection: Body movements and barometer readings can be captured to determine whether a person has fallen.
– Location and track: Movement characteristics can be captured to estimate distance and direction travelled, to acquire high-precision location and tracking data.
– Heat-level detection: Determines heat stress on the body based on temperature and humidity, and can trigger alerts in case of emergencies.
– Physical load-level detection: Estimates the physical load on a body based on changes in the wearer’s pulse, and can trigger alerts when the wearer is overloaded.

Sample Devices Embedded with UBIQUITOUSWARE (due out starting December 2015)

1. Location badges and tags (indoor/outdoor locator device)

Prototypes will be demonstrated at Fujitsu Forum.

Features

Badges and tags use pedestrian dead reckoning(2) technology based on Fujitsu’s proprietary algorithms to locate people in locations where GPS is hard to use (indoors), and use GPS to locate them outdoors, for precise location monitoring and motion tracking, indoors and out, at low cost. The system can also detect a badge-wearer’s posture and whether they have fallen.

Sample Applications

In hospitals, commercial facilities, and warehouses, badges and tags worn by staff, customers, and objects let the wearer’s position be tracked in real time. This can be used to reallocate personnel, promote safety by detecting falls in real time, manage goods, reorganize store layouts and product assortments, optimize quantities, and make other decisions.

2. Vital-sign sensing bands

Prototypes will be demonstrated at Fujitsu Forum.

Features

Information, including temperature, humidity, movements, and pulse, from a sensor worn on the wrist can be used to estimate the wearer’s heat stress using the proprietary algorithms in the Human-Centric Engine. It can also monitor rapid changes in barometric pressure and motions that would signal a fall by the wearer.

Sample Applications

Worn by workers in construction, manufacturing, or agriculture, this can be used to estimate heat stress from the surrounding environment, whether the wearer is taking breaks, and health status, to help manage the worker’s health. Also, this can be used to detect falls or other accidents, to respond to them more quickly, and to make the workplace safer.

3. Remote monitoring station

Features

This captures live sounds, including speech, coughs, breathing during sleep, and movements, with the microphone built into the station, and tracks changes in status using Fujitsu’s proprietary sound-analysis methods. This also analyzes a person’s patterns, which have been learned. The temperature and humidity sensors can estimate heat stress.

Sample Applications

Placed in a residential facility for the elderly, this can be used to detect when residents leave and return, to prevent heatstroke, and to confirm their status and assist with relief in the event of a disaster.

4. Total solution for pet monitoring (pet activity sensor unit and monitoring station)

Features

This photographs in real time the pet left home alone, and maintains a pet-activity log. The log is analyzed using Fujitsu’s proprietary algorithms to automatically detect changes in the pet’s activity levels, and issue alerts in the event of heat stress or dehydration. This helps pet owners look after their pets even when they are away.

About the Preliminary Field Testing of UBIQUITOUSWARE

Fujitsu is beginning testing in three sectors with companies using UBIQUITOUSWARE, as well as initiatives toward implementation within the Group.

Agriculture: Farm-equipment tip-sensor service

For: the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization’s Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution

Overview: This will be a joint research project into providing rapid relief and safety monitoring in which farmers will wear vital-sign sensing bands that will detect when a farmer has tipped over on piece of farm equipment and whether the farmer has stood up within a specified time period. If not, the farmer’s family or other preset parties will be automatically notified. Testing on vital-sign management for famers is also planned.

Medicine: Patient location tracking

For: Etela-Pohjanmaan sairaanhoitopiiri, Finland

Overview: This will be a joint development of an in-hospital service in which patients will wear location badges, and if they need help from a doctor or nurse, will touch a button that sends their location and prompts nearby doctors and nurses. Another joint development will be aimed at improving operational efficiency by applying location tags to equipment so that it can be visually mapped to prevent loss. Another test is underway to provide navigation guidance in the hospital to patients in order to improve hospital services and operational efficiency.

Industry: Improved workplace safety

For: Fujitsu Network Solutions Limited

Overview: In this test, field operators working on network construction projects for Fujitsu Network Solutions will wear a vital-sign sensing band that tracks their user ID and detects heat stress, for example, based on their location, acceleration, temperature, and humidity. This operational test designed to bring greater visibility to work locations is to begin this summer, with a full-scale rollout aimed at improving task execution in the field as well as workplace safety.

(1) Bluetooth Low Energy

A Bluetooth specification for short-range wireless communications, with high energy efficiency.

(2) Pedestrian dead reckoning

Autonomous navigation.

About Fujitsu Ltd

The detail, the focus of their market is just different than many wearable/IoT wanna bees.
QUIK can you get these guys some S3 samples? Can you get them to port their “Human Centric Engine onto the S3?

THanks in advance for your work on this.