Building a Wireless Ice Hockey Personnel Management System
Samuel J. Lerer, Eric B. Tieniber, Jonathan M. Smith · 2010
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are currently one of the most researched topics in the field of Computer Science. One particular area in which WSNs are implemented is human health monitoring systems. In such systems, the focus is on wirelessly observing and tracking physiological data such as heart rate, blood-sugar level, stress level and skin tempera-ture. This paper proposes an extension to such health mon-itoring systems that is tailored to measure human fatigue in the context of sports, namely ice hockey. While commercial products exist to track basic vital health information for a group of people, the presentation and management of this data is not suited for use in live athletic competitions. Ad-ditionally, current commercial products are prohibitively ex-pensive, notably wireless respiratory rate monitors. A novel technique involving audio processing is presented to measure respiratory rates without the need for expensive sensors. A complete fatigue management system would assist team managers and trainers in making sound personnel decisions based on real-time physiological data. Additionally, such a monitoring system would add a level of safety for the players; when trainers have the ability to detect life threatening health conditions such as irregular heart patterns or severe dehydra-tion, they can act preemptively and avoid catastrophic events from taking place during a game. 1.