Workshop on Harmonization of Connectivity of the Digital Citizen

The latest workshop in the series "Harmonization of Connectivity of the Digital Citizen" was held at the ETH Zurich on Wednesday, February 13, 2019. The one-day event was co-organized by the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) and the IT'IS Foundation, with support from the ETH Zurich and the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina (WRCNC). One main goal of the workshop was to identify working group members and task leaders to develop and implement a Wearable Wireless Testbed. The testbed initiative is part of the IEEE-SA Industry Connections (IC) program for facilitating consensus and collaboration among stakeholders behind rapidly changing technologies to fast-track incubation of new standards and related products and services.

In their presentations, experts from academia and industry addressed several key challenges and opportunities related to the interoperability and security of hardware, software, and data of personal area networks. Questions were fielded by the speakers during panel discussions, and the final session was focused on expectations related to the development of a testbed for assessment of wearable wireless devices and personal area networks. The diverse systems described by the invited speakers revealed the need for a community-wide approach to solving problems of interoperability. IEEE-SA confirmed its commitment to develop a corresponding standard and to organize follow-up workshops to finalize the scope. The workshop ended with a networking social. Many thanks to all participants for their contributions to the success of the workshop.