Author: crackingcontraptions_3voi0v

TS06 DAY #1 (9th Sept, 2014)

Posted on by crackingcontraptions_3voi0v

David and I met after my long summer “vacation” in England. I guess I started work on TS06 yesterday Sept, 8th. Today, of course, we can expect semen to be all over the sidewalks of SF because Apple announce their iWatch today. How has this company managed to get such blatant world-wide free advertising?

Objective

Basically we are trying to make a smaller version of TS05b with the following improvements:

  1. Better ranging using the DW chip 
  2. Better power utilization, maybe incorporating some on-board generation capabilities 
  3. Smaller – with a view to a wrist worn device 

There are a bunch of other little changes, but these are the fundamental ones.

Target Processor issues

So the first job was to figure out the plan of attack. The DW EVK uses an STM32F105 ARM chip, a Cortex-M3 core, as the processor. It has 256K flash, and 64K RAM and a maximum CPU speed of 72 MHz.
We are going to use a seriously more constrained processor – the Nordic nRF51822 BLE chip – because it has BLE.  It is only a 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 processor with 256kB flash, and only 16kB RAM. The BLE stack consumes a lot of space and we have only about 180K left for our code. The CPU speed is 16 MHz. Let’s hope it can handle the interrupts.
So my major worry is that the DW stack soaks up a lot of RAM for buffers and so forth and we run out. So the first goal is to answer this question, and until we have an answer it makes developing anything more than minimal hardware a potential big waste of time.

Setting up Keil IDE – Day #2

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to set up Eclipse for the Nordic and it has been quite a struggle. I suceeded but I’m not feeling confident that it is stable – or that I could do it again, but maybe I’ll have to.
Unfortunately the propreitary system from Keil system costs $9K, but it looks like it has some decent libraries and a RTOS which could be useful. It would be good to evaluate the Keil system and decide if all those apparent advantages are real. Yet again David has worked some kind of magic that was way beyond my capabilities and located a system we can evaluate for an extended period. Our problem now is downloading it and trying it out. It consumes 5GB, takes 2 hours to download, and has totally maxed out the laptop I was going to use to evaluate it.

Installation

  • Install mdk511a.exe  When it finishes the Pack Installer will start up and you’ll notice that there are no Nordic devices.  Quit the Pack Installer for now.
  • Install Legacy support mdkcm510.exe
  • Install nrf51_sdk_v6_1_0_b2ec2e6.msi from here.

    making sure to include the nRF51822 examples,

    Make sure to include nRF51822 examples

    and make sure that the nRF Device Family Pack is going to be included

  • and at the end accept the CDC OB CDC Driver package,
    and accept the terms of the nRF_device Family Pack

    Not that there are no Nordic devices
  • Start uVision and select Project/Manage/Pack Installer and make sure that the appropriate Nordic parts, and the STMF105 (DecaWave) are installed.  If not install them.
  • Now you have to make a valid license.  To do that right-click run-as-administrator the new Keil iVision5 system you have just created.
  • Click File/License Management
  • Copy the number out of the CID field
  • Disable Virus Checking, start the KeyGen, paste in the CID, and click generate.
  • Copy the key that gets generated in the bottom field of the KeyGen into the New License ID Code field of the License Manager, and press Add Lic
  • A license key will be generated and you can verify the expiry date.

Re: Things

Posted on by crackingcontraptions_3voi0v
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/MDK-PRO/MDK-PRO-ND/2714213  is the Keil MDK we need at a mere $9500.  Unfortunately anything less than this does not include the useful libraries.  The 32K version is free, and I suppose I could use that until I run out of space, but given that we have to link in the DW code I expect that the image will start out bigger than that.  So I think we are stuck with Eclipse, and having to write, or find a freeware version of a flash file-system.

//Mik
On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 5:40 PM, Mik Lamming <mik@lamming.com> wrote:

Really good to see you today David.   

The JTAG is a JLink Edu version.  I wouldn't spring for one until we get a bit closer to needing it.  There might be a workaround.


//Mik

Deloitte Blogs – Welcome to the Age of Biosensing Wearables

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Welcome to the Age of Biosensing Wearables

Increasingly sophisticated wearable devices can now measure heart rhythms, glucose, and more, but what will it take to get consumers and health care providers to adopt them?
When I was 10 years old, I had a crush on a girl named Mary. Mary knew my love was real—when I saw her, my mood ring would turn from a swirly green to a wavy, purplish-orange. As an adult, I now have more sophisticated tools—tools that measure information related to my health and fitness. I’ve traded in my mood ring for my Fitbit®, which I have on from the moment I leave the house to walk our dog, Tarot. Tarot has an activity monitor too, which tracks his location by GPS in case he runs off. And, at the end of the day, my wife compares my results to Tarot’s on her smartphone and decides who sleeps on the floor. Wearables have changed our lives.
The past few weeks have brought forth announcements by major technology companies touting new smart watches and digital platforms, while smaller innovators are releasing a range of new wearable (and ingestible) devices. Wearables are now moving beyond the well-established realm of tracking movement, and new entrants are developing devices that continuously monitor a broad range of physiology—from posture to brain activity—and convert the information into a signal output. With greater connectivity and computing power in our pockets and on our wrists, we seem to have entered a new era: Welcome to the age of biosensing wearables.
Given the potential of these devices, one obvious question is if and when will health care take advantage of them. Unlike blood pressure cuffs and other devices that are driven by physician utilization, consumers appear to be driving the growth and use of wearables, and investors are taking note. According to Rock Health, venture funding of biosensing wearables has risen from $20 million in 2011 to $229 million in 2013.¹ Wearable devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated, now measuring heart rhythms, oxygenation, glucose, blood pressure, and more.
What might it take to get consumers to use these devices for their health—not just for fitness and wellness?
Convenience. If it isn’t easy, people probably aren’t going to use it. Many of us have tried a traditional pedometer at one point in our lives, and just as many of us abandoned it within two weeks of starting. Through wireless data collection, made possible with low energy Bluetooth, data appears automatically with these new devices, and tracking is simplified, requiring little to no intervention by the user.
Interoperability. Many consumers want a seamless experience. Having to switch from app to app to see the outputs of various sensors can be a recipe for frustration and confusion.
Privacy. While consumers may be perfectly happy to share their step count with friends, co-workers, and even strangers, they might be reluctant to do so with their employers or their insurance companies. Moreover, they may have no reservations about sharing their physical activity on any given day, but they might feel less inclined to reveal their glucose or blood pressure readings.
Motivation. While each of the prior issues matter, perhaps the most important factor leading to the continued use of a tracker is making it social. Whether users are motivated by sharing, competing, or obtaining rewards, the use of social media platforms has been cited as a strong determinant of ongoing use and achieving goals.²
As consumers get onboard, what might it take for the health care industry to recognize the value in these devices?
Rationale. Just as consumers need to be motivated, health care needs a reason to adopt new technology. While innovation is exciting, unless there is a clear return on investment (ROI), few often embrace it. With the rise of value-based care and its focus on population health, prevention, and outcomes, new opportunities could arise. Consumer engagement for health promotion and medication adherence, management of chronic disease, and remote monitoring now present clearer paths to ROI.
Validity. While the makers of biosensors make many claims about their accuracy, some are no more precise than my old mood ring. If medical decisions are going to be made based on these devices, they will need to truly reflect what they purport to measure. Some companies and developers have gone as far as to get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and many more may follow.
Reliability. The data needs to flow consistently and accurately in order to be useful. Gaps introduce errors and a degree of uncertainty that may often be acceptable to consumers, but can render the data useless to clinicians and researchers.
Evidence. Amid the excitement over the potential of these sensors and companion apps, right now there is scant evidence that they contribute to improved outcomes. And, as I have said before, just because I have a fitness app on my phone, it does not make me an athlete. Thankfully, a number of pilot studies have been launched to understand what devices have an impact under what circumstances.
Finally, as biosensing wearables work their way into health care, industry stakeholders should consider asking if they are measuring the right things. Physiologic signs would seem to provide incredible insights. However, if I wanted a sensor to alert me to potential problems with my aging parents, I might glean more from a sensor on their refrigerator door than a continuous heart rate monitor. Tracking my steps is one thing—but it doesn’t tell you, like my credit card does, that my walk included purchases at a fast food restaurant and a cupcake bakery.
No matter what, these devices are probably here to stay, and more are on the way. How they address the needs of consumers and the health care industry will determine which are truly effective, and which wind up in the doghouse.
— By Harry Greenspun, M.D., Senior Advisor, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, Deloitte LLP

Using Sensor Technology to Lower Elder Care Costs – Pattern recognition

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http://deloitte.wsj.com/cio/2014/07/28/using-sensor-technology-to-lower-elder-care-costs/

To track seniors’ medical conditions and surroundings more closely, researchers are experimenting with more advanced smart sensor networks that provide remote caregivers real-time insight into the health and well-being of in-home patients. For example, research teams led by Diane Cook, Ph.D., of Washington State University and Nirmalya Roy, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), are exploring how to retrofit homes with sensor networks that monitor a resident’s behavior and activity levels.

These sensor-enabled homes use machine learning to recognize behavior patterns such as eating, sleeping, and movement, and then identify and report any signs of illness or cognitive degeneration to caretakers and physicians via the Web or mobile networks. The monitoring capabilities also alert physicians to changes in the physical and mental health of their senior patients, and allow them to intervene before adverse events occur. Finally, enabling seniors to live safely in their homes for as long as possible will likely help these individuals retain their sense of independence and self-confidence longer.4

Compared to the high cost of traditional assisted-living facilities and nursing homes, sensor-enabled smart homes are relatively inexpensive. Retrofitting a home with sensor technologies costs $2,500, on average, for hardware and installation fees, plus a modest monthly fee for monitoring and analyzing the data.5