SensingKit: Evaluating the Sensor Power Consumption in iOS Devices

Today's smartphones come equipped with a range of advanced sensors capable of sensing motion, orientation, audio as well as environmental data with high accuracy. With the existence of application distribution channels such as the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, researchers can distribute applications and collect large scale data in ways that previously were not possible. Motivated by the lack of a universal, multi-platform sensing library, in this work we present the design and implementation of SensingKit, an open-source continuous sensing system that supports both iOS and Android mobile devices. One of the unique features of SensingKit is the support of the latest beacon technologies based on Bluetooth Smart (BLE), such as iBeacon and Eddystone. We evaluate and compare the power consumption of each supported sensor individually, using an iPhone 5S device running on iOS 9. We believe that this platform will be beneficial to all researchers and developers who plan to use mobile sensing technology in large-scale experiments.