Avatar and the Physical World

This section explores how Avatar, running on a smart phone, could interface to the physical world. Your Avatar will be mostly digital, but can also interface to the physical world as follows:

GPS

• GPS will enable Avatar to track a user's location when satellites are available
• Comparison of different user location

Accelerometers

• Used to measure acceleration; integration can determine speed, position, and orientation
• When satellites are unavailable, accelerometers can be used for Inertial Navigation
• When satellites are available, accelerometers can improve GPS accuracy

MEMS

• Gyroscopes measure rotation speed and can be used to correct accelerometer measurements
• Magnetometers detect magnetic fields and can be used to determine cardinal north
• Barometers measure pressure and can determine altitude

Audio sensing

• Voice Recognition
• Proximity detection

Image sensing

Voice/Language

• Translation between different languages/dialect

Physical context analysis