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Smart
specs technology could clear
the way to ultimate athletic
performance
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could this breakthrough pave
the way to the 3 1/2 minute
mile?
A monitoring
and display breakthrough from
Cambridge Consultants could
give athletes the means to truly
optimise their training and
performance - without the need
for the conventional armoury
of sensors and awkward wrist
displays. Instead, the athlete
of tomorrow will just need to
wear a pair of glasses, which
incorporate everything needed
to monitor and display key biomedical
parameters in real time.
For
today’s athletes and their
coaches, performance improvement
depends increasingly on access
to detailed biomedical data.
The essence of the new technology
- working title Technospecs
- is that it incorporates both
data capture, and highly effective
information delivery. Sophisticated
sensors measure factors such
as heart rate and blood oxygen
levels, and that information
is delivered in real-time in
the form of a head-up display,
the never-bettered information
feedback technique originally
developed for jet fighter pilots.
The resulting 'wearable laboratory'
has great potential for use
both in optimising training
regimes and honing competitive
performances, and Cambridge
Consultants is currently talking
with clients in the sports industry
about transferring the technology
to commercial products.
The sort of products that Cambridge
Consultants envisages are smart
goggles for swimmers, or glasses
for distance runners or cyclists,
providing real-time feedback
on biomedical functions as well
as timing data on the athletic
performance in progress.
Behind Technospecs lies work
on a number of technologies
that will transform the technology
concept into a commercial product.
These include miniaturisation
of optical and sensory electronics,
mechanical engineering to optimise
the positioning and stability
of the sensors, electronics
and battery, and - most significantly
- signal-processing techniques
to produce reliable measurements
from a moving, sweating athlete.
A key step in achieving a commercially
successful product will be a
cost and size reduction exercise
to bring all the electronics
together on a single dedicated
chip.
One
further intriguing implementation
possibility is the addition
of a wireless communications
link to the Technospecs chip,
so that an athlete could transfer
performance data to a PC for
detailed analysis, or to the
trainer.
 The
technology has many applications
around the sporting arena. The
sensor technology of pulse oximetry
which provides the data on blood
oxygen levels would be particularly
useful to athletes in extreme
conditions such as mountaineers,
skydivers and pilots at high
altitude. The compact head-up
display technology also presents
opportunities in automotive
sport where the ability to display
sensor readings in a helmet
or viewfinder could eliminate
the need to look down at controls.
Monitoring of real time physical
data also has applications beyond
sport, such as in the armed
forces or emergency services.
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