Welcome to project WatchLink! This repository contains two main directories. Each directory has its own README.md file with specific details and instructions.
To get started with the project:
- Explore the button_design_files/ directory if you are interested in the hardware design and development of a WatchLink sensor.
- Explore the pdf_parser/ directory if you are interested in running the software tools for parsing ECG data out of Apple Health or Fitbit exported PDFs.
Contributions are welcome! If you find any issues or have suggestions for improvements, please open an issue or create a pull request.
If you use this project or its resources in your research, please cite the following paper:
Anandghan Waghmare, Ishan Chatterjee, Vikram Iyer, and Shwetak Patel. 2024. WatchLink: Enhancing Smartwatches with Sensor Add-Ons via ECG Interface. In Proceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 14, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3654777.3676329
For BibTeX users, you can use the following citation:
@inproceedings{10.1145/3654777.3676329,
author = {Waghmare, Anandghan and Chatterjee, Ishan and Iyer, Vikram and Patel, Shwetak},
title = {WatchLink: Enhancing Smartwatches with Sensor Add-Ons via ECG Interface},
year = {2024},
isbn = {9798400706288},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3654777.3676329},
doi = {10.1145/3654777.3676329},
abstract = {We introduce a low-power communication method that lets smartwatches leverage existing electrocardiogram (ECG) hardware as a data communication interface. Our unique approach enables the connection of external, inexpensive, and low-power "add-on" sensors to the smartwatch, expanding its functionalities. These sensors cater to specialized user needs beyond those offered by pre-built sensor suites, at a fraction of the cost and power of traditional communication protocols, including Bluetooth Low Energy. To demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we conduct a series of exploratory and evaluative tests to characterize the ECG interface as a communication channel on commercial smartwatches. We design a simple transmission scheme using commodity components, demonstrating cost and power benefits. Further, we build and test a suite of add-on sensors, including UV light, body temperature, buttons, and breath alcohol, all of which achieved testing objectives at low material cost and power usage. This research paves the way for personalized and user-centric wearables by offering a cost-effective solution to expand their functionalities.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology},
articleno = {14},
numpages = {13},
keywords = {ECG Sensing, Low-power devices, User-centric wearables, Wearable sensor add-onFor any inquiries or issues, please contact Anandghan Waghmare at [email protected].