Design of the QBIC wearable computing platform

Wearable computing systems can be broadly defined as mobile electronic devices that can be unobtrusively embedded in a user´s outfit as part of the garment or an accessory. Unlike conventional mobile devices, such systems shall be virtually invisible, not hindering physical activity, always active and running without user´s attention. We present our wearability driven design approach and the philosophy for a novel wearable computing system integrated into a fully functional belt. This system integrates the main electronics in the buckle of a belt and utilizes the belt itself as extension bus and mechanical support for add ons. The system runs GNU/Linux operating system and has sufficient resources to address a variety of applications in the field of wearable computing. Considerations regarding ergonomic design, system architecture, first implementation results and applications are presented.