Two Great Research Organizations are Defining Next Generation Phantom Testing in the Emerging Market for Wearable Devices

The IT’IS Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society of Zurich, Switzerland and the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina (WRC), a non-profit 501(c)(3) research organization, have reached an agreement to address the need for the development of performance testing procedures for a broad range of next generation on-body, wearable, and near-body wireless devices for commercial, industrial, and medical applications. The parties will also focus on the identification of multi-institutional research opportunities, generation of joint technical publications, and identification of commercialization opportunities. As independent, non-profit research organizations, the WRC and the IT’IS Foundation share a common mission with complementary technical resources. The unique collaborative relationship established under this agreement will accelerate the pioneering efforts of both organizations leading to a more efficient development of test methodologies and a broader impact with respect to facilitating the development of emerging wireless applications over a wide range of market sectors (including medical, wellness, defense, automotive, and commercial applications). During the initial phase of this collaboration, the team will use the WRC’s Satimo SG-64 anechoic chamber for the early validation and deployment of the IT’IS Foundation’s anatomically correct posable full-body “POPEYE” phantom, developed by SPEAG AG, and other EM phantoms that are intended to be used in standards development (e.g. CTIA). The early access to these phantoms will foster the development of commercial wearable sensors and devices. 

According to Dr. Gerard Hayes of the Wireless Research Center, “The explosion of the wearable device market has met the needs of many customer requirements, but defining the impact scientifically to best understand the impact of performance of these devices must be quantified. With access to the new phantoms from IT’IS, the WRC is now equipped to share this data with the community at large.”

“We believe the relationship with the WRC allows us to be proactive in understanding the challenges of testing these devices, and more importantly, better understanding the performance of these devices across multiple markets segments. Our relationship will allow us to immediately address the research needs of the North American market and explore the emerging wireless medical applications, while sharing the knowledge gained in this partnership globally,” states Dr. Niels Kuster, Director of the IT’IS Foundation and Professor at ETH Zurich.

In summary, the wearable device market is a large part of the “IOT” market, the growth of IOT is predicted to grow from 1.2B devices in 2014 to 5.4 devices to 2020 according to ABI Research. This relationship allows both organizations and their customers to be well positioned to address the challenges generated by such growth. 

About Wireless Research Center of North Carolina

Head quartered in and supported by the City of Wake Forest, NC, the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina (WRC) is a non-profit organization that offers engineering services and testing for wireless communications. Twice awarded grants from the Golden Leaf Foundation, the WRC facilitates entrepreneurial development for wireless-enabled technologies. Its global customer base produces a diverse range of wireless products ranging from transceivers to medical devices and rural broadband. WRC fosters collaboration among industry partners, academic institutions and research organizations, and is a CTIA-certified testing facility. For more information, visit http://wirelesscenter-nc.org/.

Posable full-body “POPEYE” phantom, developed by SPEAG AG