December
2005, Issue 185
Browser-Based
Telemetry System
Brad used Java to create an Internet
browser-based telemetry system for his rock climbing
expeditions. In addition to generating an Internet
feed, the inexpensive system collects heart rate,
blood pressure, and temperature data.
by
Brad Zdanivsky
After
a car accident left me quadriplegic, I was determined
to figure out a way to continue rock climbing. Ten years
ago, a dedicated group of my friends, family, and colleagues
came together to break preconceived ideas of what’s
possible. We started the Vertical Challenge project
(www.verticalchallenge.org) to help quadriplegics get
involved in adventure sports and improve their health
and quality of life. We also hoped to inspire anyone
who doesn’t think they have the potential to do whatever
they want.
We
develop specialized rock-climbing equipment for quadriplegics,
which I use myself. However, for the people on the ground,
watching from the parking lot as my team climbs a mountain
isn’t too exciting, or so I’m told. For years, my team
had wondered how we could beam down images and telemetry
to spectators. We thought that entertaining spectators
wouldn’t be the only benefit. We could also send important
health-related data back to our ground station. On early
attempts to climb the 650-m Stawamus Chief granite monolith
in Squamish, British Columbia, I had had serious medical
issues to deal with on top of the many chin-ups. As
a result, we had to retreat down the mountain. But if
we’d had a system to monitor my heart rate, blood pressure,
and temperature, the climbs might have turned out differently.
Well,
we now have such a system. My browser-based telemetry
system collects human performance data and provides
a web feed for grounded viewers.
Put
the soldering iron down. In this article, I’ll describe
how you can use Java to glue off-the-shelf hardware
together to create your own telemetry system. Along
the way, I’ll share some of the data acquisition lessons
I learned the hard way.
