Wearable computing: Challenges of implementation and its future

Wearable computing is a new research field which has undergone huge improvements in the last decade and it seems that it will become even more important in the near future. Unfortunately, designing high performance wearable computing devices is not an easy task and its implementation has faced many challenges. This field is an intersection of different research areas such as computer science and engineering using various technologies such as microelectronics and wireless communication. This paper gives a brief history of wearable computing and also discusses the key enabling factors in its design. It also explains the details of advances in microelectronics that have led to small size die with low power consumption which have been found suitable for wearable computing devices. An overview of wireless telecommunication technologies that enable the design of wearable computing devices such as Bluetooth, 3G LTE, Wi-Fi, ZigBee and WiMAX are outlined as well. The wearable computing technology that exists today is discussed as well as its application. The paper demonstrates the challenges that the designers face such as creating appropriate interfaces between the body and the computing device, network resources and security. The research issues and future of wearable computing are presented making clear both the obstacles that this field will face as well as the potential strides that it has in store.