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SDRC Led Team will Develop Wearable Wireless Network to Capture Near Real-Time Training Data

SAN DIEGO, California (8/15/2005) - SDRC (San Diego Research Center, Inc.), a leader in wireless network research and system development in the defense sector, and team member mani Srivastava of UCLA's Networked and Embedded Systems Laboratory (NESL) have been chosen by the Army to develop and demonstrate a  wearable short range wireless network to support the capture and near real-time analysis of geolocation, activity, and physiology information relevant to Army instructors and physically active trainees. This enabling technology is intended to improve the safety and effectiveness of training and decrease the likelihood of environmentally-induced injuries.

Dr. Bo Ryu, SDRC's Principal Investigator (PI) commented that, "Field studies suggest Army instructors and their soldier-students could benefit from wearable short-range low-bandwidth network technologies. By combining short-range wireless communications technology with appropriate body-worn sensing and classification algorithms, activity and physiology data can be captured and near real-time statistical analysis and classification performed".  This functionality is currently not available due to the lack of appropriate technologies for minimalist wireless short range networking applicable to the Army's needs.  The Army hopes short-range low-bandwidth wireless network technologies that adhere to a minimalist philosophy of simplicity and robustness can be used in austere Army field training environments to fill the requirement."

This Phase I effort is a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, entitled "Minimalist Short-Range Wearable Network (MINIMEN) for Soldier Training, Feasibility, Tradeoff, and Demonstration." The contract was funded at $ 99,999 on 8/15/2005.

About the STTR program: The Department of Defense (DoD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and  Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs fund a billion dollars each year in early-stage R&D projects at small technology companies - projects that serve a DoD need and have commercial applications. SBIR and STTR funds are awarded competitively and small companies retain the intellectual property rights to technologies they develop under these programs.

About SDRC: SDRC is a wireless technology research and system development company focusing on challenging and important opportunities in government and commercial communications markets.

About our team member: UCLA's Networked & Embedded Systems Laboratory (NESL) is a part of the Electrical Engineering Department as well as the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS) .  NESL is engaged in research on architecture, design, and tools for networked and embedded computing and communication systems.  Their current focus includes wireless sensor and actuator networks, low-power and power aware computing and networking, mobile and wireless computing, and pervasive computing.

Media Contact: Ted Balleras (858) 623-9424 ext. 408 or ted.balleras@argonst.com