Cargando…

An Embedded Sensory System for Worker Safety: Prototype Development and Evaluation

At a construction site, workers mainly rely on two senses, which are sight and sound, in order to perceive their physical surroundings. However, they are often hindered by the nature of most construction sites, which are usually dynamic, loud, and complicated. To overcome these challenges, this rese...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cho, Chunhee, Park, JeeWoong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5948569/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29662008
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s18041200
_version_ 1783322579433422848
author Cho, Chunhee
Park, JeeWoong
author_facet Cho, Chunhee
Park, JeeWoong
author_sort Cho, Chunhee
collection PubMed
description At a construction site, workers mainly rely on two senses, which are sight and sound, in order to perceive their physical surroundings. However, they are often hindered by the nature of most construction sites, which are usually dynamic, loud, and complicated. To overcome these challenges, this research explored a method using an embedded sensory system that might offer construction workers an artificial sensing ability to better perceive their surroundings. This study identified three parameters (i.e., intensity, signal length, and delay between consecutive pulses) needed for tactile-based signals for the construction workers to communicate quickly. We developed a prototype system based on these parameters, conducted experimental studies to quantify and validate the sensitivity of the parameters for quick communication, and analyzed test data to reveal what was added by this method in order to perceive information from the tactile signals. The findings disclosed that the parameters of tactile-based signals and their distinguishable ranges could be perceived in a short amount of time (i.e., a fraction of a second). Further experimentation demonstrated the capability of the identified unit signals combined with a signal mapping technique to effectively deliver simple information to individuals and offer an additional sense of awareness to the surroundings. The findings of this study could serve as a basis for future research in exploring advanced tactile-based messages to overcome challenges in environments for which communication is a struggle.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5948569
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-59485692018-05-17 An Embedded Sensory System for Worker Safety: Prototype Development and Evaluation Cho, Chunhee Park, JeeWoong Sensors (Basel) Article At a construction site, workers mainly rely on two senses, which are sight and sound, in order to perceive their physical surroundings. However, they are often hindered by the nature of most construction sites, which are usually dynamic, loud, and complicated. To overcome these challenges, this research explored a method using an embedded sensory system that might offer construction workers an artificial sensing ability to better perceive their surroundings. This study identified three parameters (i.e., intensity, signal length, and delay between consecutive pulses) needed for tactile-based signals for the construction workers to communicate quickly. We developed a prototype system based on these parameters, conducted experimental studies to quantify and validate the sensitivity of the parameters for quick communication, and analyzed test data to reveal what was added by this method in order to perceive information from the tactile signals. The findings disclosed that the parameters of tactile-based signals and their distinguishable ranges could be perceived in a short amount of time (i.e., a fraction of a second). Further experimentation demonstrated the capability of the identified unit signals combined with a signal mapping technique to effectively deliver simple information to individuals and offer an additional sense of awareness to the surroundings. The findings of this study could serve as a basis for future research in exploring advanced tactile-based messages to overcome challenges in environments for which communication is a struggle. MDPI 2018-04-14 /pmc/articles/PMC5948569/ /pubmed/29662008 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s18041200 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Cho, Chunhee
Park, JeeWoong
An Embedded Sensory System for Worker Safety: Prototype Development and Evaluation
title An Embedded Sensory System for Worker Safety: Prototype Development and Evaluation
title_full An Embedded Sensory System for Worker Safety: Prototype Development and Evaluation
title_fullStr An Embedded Sensory System for Worker Safety: Prototype Development and Evaluation
title_full_unstemmed An Embedded Sensory System for Worker Safety: Prototype Development and Evaluation
title_short An Embedded Sensory System for Worker Safety: Prototype Development and Evaluation
title_sort embedded sensory system for worker safety: prototype development and evaluation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5948569/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29662008
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s18041200
work_keys_str_mv AT chochunhee anembeddedsensorysystemforworkersafetyprototypedevelopmentandevaluation
AT parkjeewoong anembeddedsensorysystemforworkersafetyprototypedevelopmentandevaluation
AT chochunhee embeddedsensorysystemforworkersafetyprototypedevelopmentandevaluation
AT parkjeewoong embeddedsensorysystemforworkersafetyprototypedevelopmentandevaluation