Nokia's vision of a connected mobile world

Dartmouth: Sensor-Based Recreation Networking

The MetroSense Project at Dartmouth is exploring novel ways to blend the virtual world and the sensed physical world. In their BikeNet mobile sensing system, bikes are outfitted with custom Tmote Invent motes, and sensor-enabled Nokia phones are attached to cyclists’ helmets.

Twenty-five sensors collect data quantifying various aspects of the cycling experience: cyclist’s personal data (heart rate, galvanic skin response), cyclist’s performance (wheel speed, pedal cadence, frame tilt), and location-specific data (sound level, carbon dioxide level, proximity of cars).

Sensor data is uploaded when the bike comes within radio range of a sensor access point—and can be shared with other cyclists in real time. Sharing also occurs over short-range radio, either directly (bike to bike) or indirectly through neutral storage and aggregation devices.

University of California, Berkeley: Probe Cars for Real-Time Traffic Reports

In early 2008, Nokia, the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans), and UC Berkeley’s California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT) ran a one-day “100-car experiment” to test how traffic flows can be monitored from mobile phones. Drivers traveled in a loop along a 10-mile stretch of highway throughout the day, as their phones sent periodic speed and location readings. These individual GPS feeds were compiled to create a real-time traffic picture.

The mobile traffic reports were considerably more accurate than those provided by static road-based sensors, and at a significantly reduced cost. Additionally, all data transmissions were completely anonymous and encrypted, reducing a potential barrier to adoption. With congestion causing billions of extra travel hours in the United States alone, the potential impact of this research is great. And since the system can work with the input of 5 percent of drivers on any given highway, we may see real benefits in the not-so-distant future. On November 10, 2008, Nokia launched a much-expanded field test involving 10,000 cars called Mobile Millennium, across a wider area of Northern California and the added participation of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

MIT: Observing Nature in the Field

...continued