Giancarl of University of Calabria, Italy

Wearable computing is a relatively new area of research and development that aims at supporting people in different application domains: health-care (monitoring assisted living), fitness (monitoring athletes), social interactions (enabling multi-user activity recognition, e.g. handshake), videogames (enabling joystick-less interactions), factory (monitoring employees in their activity), etc. Wearable computing is based on wearable computing devices/interfaces such as sensor nodes (e.g. to measure heart rate, temperature, blood oxygen, etc), common life objects (e.g. watch, belt, etc), and smartphones/PDA. Wearable computing has been recently boosted by the introduction of body sensor networks (BSNs), i.e. networks of wireless wearable sensor nodes coordinated by more capable coordinators (smartphones, tablets, PCs). Although the basic elements (sensors, protocols, coordinators) of a BSN are available (already from a commercial point of view), developing BSN systems/applications is a complex task that requires suitable design methods based on effective and efficient programming frameworks. In this DL, we will first discuss the state-of-the-art of currently available wearable computing systems based on BSNs. Then, we will focus on the main results achieved in the SPINE project (http://spine.deis.unical.it), currently led by Prof. Fortino’s research group, in terms of defined models, methodology, algorithms, and real prototypes (e.g. activity/gesture recognition systems, fall detection systems, mobile ECG processing systems, elbow/knee rehabilitation systems, emotion recognition systems, etc.). Based on SPINE, we also developed C-SPINE to support the development of collaborative systems based on BSNs and able to detect/classify multi-user activity. Examples will be given in the area of COVID-19 tracing and support platforms. Finally, the DL will enumerate and discuss future research challenges along with possible solutions in such exciting research domains. Learning points: • Body sensor networks: sensors (physiological sensors, inertial sensors, pressure sensors), architectures and communications patterns/protocols • Body sensor networks programming and management issues • The SPINE (Signal Processing In-Node Environment) framework: basic concepts (sensors hardware adaptation, drivers addition, sensors programming, data collection, in-node data processing) • SPINE wearable sensor-based prototypes: from Human Activity recognition to Cardiac Defense Response detection and Limb Rehabilitation. • C-SPINE for the Development of Collaborative BSNs and its application for humans’ tracing/distancing platforms • Future research challenges in BSNs: from wearable stretchable sensors to autonomic sensor platforms.

Biography:

Giancarlo Fortino (IEEE Fellow 2022) is a Full Professor of Computer Engineering at the Dept of Informatics, Modeling, Electronics, and Systems of the University of Calabria (Unical), Italy. He received a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Unical in 2000. He is also a distinguished professor at the Wuhan University of Technology and Huazhong Agricultural University (China), a high-end expert at HUST (China), a senior research fellow at the Italian ICAR-CNR Institute, CAS PIFI visiting scientist at SIAT – Shenzhen, and Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE Sensors Council. At Unical, he is the Rector’s delegate to Int’l relations, the chair of the Ph.D. School in ICT, the director of the Postgraduate Master course in INTER-IoT, and the director of the SPEME lab, as well as co-chair of Joint labs on IoT, established between Unical and WUT, SMU, and HZAU Chinese universities, respectively. Fortino is currently the scientific responsible for the Digital Health group of the Italian CINI National Laboratory at Unical. He is a Highly Cited Researcher 2020 and 2021 in Computer Science by Clarivate. Currently, he has 19 highly cited papers in WoS and h-index=67 with 16300+ citations in Google Scholar. His research interests include wearable computing systems, e-Health, the Internet of Things, and agent-based computing. He is the author of 550+ papers in international journals, conferences, and books. He is the (founding) series editor of IEEE Press Book Series on Human-Machine Systems and EiC of Springer Internet of Things series and AE of premier international journals such as IEEE TAFFC-CS, IEEE THMS, IEEE T-AI, IEEE IoTJ, IEEE SJ, IEEE JBHI, IEEE SMCM, IEEE OJEMB, IEEE OJCS, Information Fusion, JNCA, EAAI, etc. He chaired many International workshops and conferences (120+), was involved in a huge number of international conferences/workshops (500+) as an IPC member, and a guest editor of many special issues (75+). He is co-founder and CEO of SenSysCal S.r.l., an Unical spinoff focused on innovative IoT systems, and recently cofounder and vice-CEO of the spin-off Bigtech S.r.l focused on big data, AI, and IoT technologies. Fortino is currently a member of the IEEE SMCS BoG and of the IEEE Press BoG, and chair of the IEEE SMCS Italian Chapter.

Address:Calabria, Italy