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Working with the U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Center (NSC), Exponent is developing a low-power, low-temperature, high-speed wearable computer to serve as a test bed for other wearable-electronics programs. The test-bed wearable computer (TBWC) interfaces to standard video sources and input devices. This allows any program to develop around COTS-based technologies and rapidly integrate a wearable system.

As the name infers, the TBWC is a “Test Bed.” Its development was sponsored by NSC to act as a surrogate for programs that need a wearable solution where no solution exists. The benefit to the soldier/user is that various military technology programs can use the TBWC to support the development and showcasing of body-worn technology.

Features of the System
The TBWC is a low-power, high-end processor design using a Transmeta™ Crusoe™ CPU, which provides the user the best of processing capability and power management features. The design features complete I/O functionality for popular peripheral support, including USB, Serial, and WLAN. The user interface component includes standard analog VGA signals, as well as a DVI interface for flat panel support. The computer can be integrated with standard laptop-type mechanical hard drives. For lower power consumption flash drives may be used.

Components of the TBWC

  • Transmeta™ Crusoe™ TM5800 800-MHz processor
  • 256 MB SDRAM
  • VIA® VT82C686 chipset
  • Award™ PnP Flash BIOS
  • IDE: DMA33 transfer rate up to 33MB/sec
  • Operating systems supported: Microsoft®; Windows® 98, 2000, NT; and Linux™

I/O Components

  • Two USB v1.1 ports
  • IEEE 802.11b WLAN
  • PCMCIA controller
  • PS/2 support for both keyboard and mouse
  • Analog and DVI PanelLink® video support (VGA to SXGA resolution)
  • ESS™ Solo1™ sound chip with stereo output/microphone input connections
  • Four COM ports:
    • Three RS232 COM ports
    • One COM port factory configured to RS-232, RS-422, or RS-485

The TBWC will be used as the computer platform to support Natick Soldier Center’s Scorpion Program in Phase II efforts. The TBWC will interface with the USB PAN of the Scorpion body-worn electronics and helmet-mounted electronics. The TBWC will host specific application software to demonstrate the key components of the Scorpion Program, such as 3D audio, Physiological Status Monitoring, and Soldier’s Situational Awareness.

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