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for their vehicles between arbitrary end-points. Green GPS relies on data
collected by individuals from their vehicles as well as on mathematical
models to compute fuel e
cient routes.
The most fuel e
cient route may depend on the vehicle and may be
different from the shortest or fastest route. For example, a fast route
that uses a freeway may consume more fuel because fuel consumption
increases non-linearly with speed. Similarly, the shortest route that tra-
verses busy city streets may be suboptimal because of downtown trac.
The data collected by the different drivers can be used in conjunction
with mathematical models in order to make effective predictions. A
natural question arises as to the nature of the data which can be col-
lected by the different individuals for this purpose. The service exploits
measurements of standard vehicular sensor interfaces that give access to
most gauges and engine instrumentation.
To build its fuel eciency models, Green GPS utilizes a vehicle's
OBD-II system and a typical scanner tool in conjunction with a partic-
ipatory sensing framework. The team is collecting data from vehicles
driven by research participants to determine what factors influence fuel
consumption. The data collected by the participants is driving the cre-
ation of a mathematical model that enable computing fuel consumption
of different cars on different road segments. Early studies have shown
that a 13% reduction in consumer gas consumption is possible over the
shortest path and 6% over the fastest path.
8.4 Participatory Sensing in Healthcare
A variety of
participatory sensing techniques
can be used for enabling
real-time services. In participatory sensing, users agree to allow data
about them to be transmitted in order to enable a variety of services
which are enabled in real time. The ability to carry such devices allows
its use for a variety of healthcare applications involving the elderly. For
example, elderly patients can use this in order to call for care when
necessary. Similarly, such sensing devices can be utilized for a variety of
safety and health-care related applications.
Several companies such as
Vivometrics
,
Bodymedia
,and
Mini-mitter
have [196-198] have designed enhanced versions of the Holter ECG mon-
itoring device [85], which is commonly used for ambulatory services.
These enhanced devices are able to monitor a patient's ECG for longer
periods of time, and transmit them remotely to the physician. Such a
concept is very useful for high-risk populations (such as elderly patients),
because it allows quick and time-critical responses, which has the poten-
tial to save lives. While
inpatient mobile sensing
is quite common in
