Summary
1 Introduction
IoT-enabled wearables are revolutionizing various
applications by offering smart devices that can be worn in
different forms, such as accessories, clothing, implants,
or even skin tattoos. These devices connect to the
Internet to collect, send, and receive data, enabling smart
decision-making. The mobility of humans and animals
makes these wearables increasingly crucial, as they can
gather and transmit data on the go, enhancing efficiency,
optimization, and safety in various tasks. The rapid
development of low-power mobile networks, shrinking
electronic devices, and sensor advancements have
accelerated the growth of wearable technology. We have
seen a surge in smart wearables like watches, wristbands,
eyewear, headsets, earbuds, body straps, foot and hand
devices, and smart jewelry, tailored for diverse
applications, improving quality of life, productivity, and
safety.
2 Wearable IoT Classification
To classify the applications of wearable IoT, this survey
began by collecting state-of-the-art research works,
papers, and articles from databases like IEEE Xplore and
ACM digital libraries. The related works were then
categorized into clusters based on their application, and
each research paper was assigned to one of these
clusters. Some clusters, due to their significance, have a
broader range of applications. Besides the main clusters,
wearable IoT devices also find use in other areas such as
enhancing gaming experiences in virtual games, payment
applications, and education, although these are beyond
the scope of the survey.
3 CIoT-Enabled Wearable
Despite the growing importance of CIoT wearables, they
haven't been extensively covered in existing literature.
Typically, these wearables connect to the Internet via Wi-
Fi or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), leveraging the ubiquity
of cellphones. BLE has been widely studied and holds
potential for IoT applications, but CIoT is poised to
become the dominant technology for wearables in the
future. As the cost of cellular equipment and data plans
decrease, users increasingly prefer cellular technology
over Wi-Fi. Technologies like LTE-M and NB-IoT, part of
the 3GPP standards, offer superior coverage, scalability,
interoperability, quality of service (QoS), and security
compared to current alternatives. The ongoing
development of 5G will further enhance CIoT
performance, making it a promising solution for diverse
wearable applications.
4. Challenges and Possibilities
The major challenges of the wearable IoT devices are
listed below:
1) Data Resolution of Wearable Sensors: Wearable
devices are designed to be small and energy-efficient,
often resulting in lower sensor resolution compared to
larger, non-wearable devices.
2) Power Consumption: To minimize user interaction and
maximize operating time without frequent charging,
wearable devices use low-power systems or energy
harvesting methods, such as solar energy, though solar
energy is limited to daytime and outdoor use.
3) Wearability: Wearables must be lightweight and
comfortable, without disrupting daily activities. The
challenge lies in balancing computational complexity with
weight. Smart clothing for human-cloud integration is
one solution to this issue.
4) Safety: Wearable IoT devices transmit data wirelessly,
posing potential health risks due to radiofrequency
radiation, especially when worn on the head or eyes.
Poor coverage areas can exacerbate this problem.
5) Security: Due to their lightweight and low-power
designs, wearable IoT devices often have weaker security
features, making them vulnerable to hacking.
6) Regulation: The lack of proper regulations limits the
use of wearable IoT devices in some industries, despite
their technological feasibility.
7) Privacy: The constant data exchange between
wearables and IoT hubs can lead to privacy breaches if
appropriate policies are not in place. Broadcast modes
make wearables easily discoverable, risking unauthorized
data access. A proposed broadcast-subscriber IoT model
ensures data is only shared with authorized nodes.
5. Conclusion
Wearable IoT holds vast potential for numerous real-life
applications. This paper surveys the key research efforts
in this field by analyzing over one hundred significant
papers, categorizing them into four main application
clusters, and grouping the methods used for each cluster.
Despite the potential, the full power of integrating
wearables with IoT systems remains underrecognized.
Cellular IoT could 1revolutionize the wearable IoT
industry, but it has not yet received significant attention
from the research community. Addressing this gap could
unlock new opportunities and advancements in wearable
technology.
TY - JOUR (Dian, 2020)
1
TI - Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT),
Applications, Opportunities, and Challenges: A Survey
T2 - IEEE Access
SP - 69200
EP - 69211
AU - F. John Dian
AU - R. Vahidnia
AU - A. Rahmati
PY - 2020
DO - 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2986329
JO - IEEE Access
IS -
SN - 2169-3536
VO - 8
VL - 8
JA - IEEE Access
Y1 - 2020
ER -
(Dian, 2020) (Dian F. J., 2020)
