Fault tolerance challenges in wearable computing for vital applications: a survey

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Wearable computers offer significant potential across various domains, notably in healthcare.
• However, inherent challenges like system faults limit their practical application and reliability.
• Integrating fault tolerance techniques is crucial for robust wearable device design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate critical issues surrounding fault tolerance in wearable computing systems.
• To analyze state-of-the-art research across hardware, software, energy, and communication aspects of fault tolerance.
• To develop and apply a framework for evaluating the fault tolerance of existing wearable systems.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive review of existing research on fault tolerance in wearable computing.
• Categorization of fault tolerance techniques into hardware, software, energy, and communication.
• Development of a 'fault tolerance plan' comprising 25 components for system evaluation.
• Application of the plan to assess prominent wearable computing works using medical and military profiles.

Main Results:

• Evaluation using a medical profile showed one system with 91% fault tolerance; others scored 24% or less.
• Evaluation using a military profile indicated one system achieved 76% fault tolerance; others scored 19% or less.
• The results highlight a substantial deficiency in research and implementation of fault tolerance in wearable computing.

Conclusions:

• Current wearable computing systems exhibit limited fault tolerance, particularly in critical domains like healthcare.
• The developed 'fault tolerance plan' provides a method for assessing and comparing system resilience.
• There is a pressing need for increased research and development in fault-tolerant wearable technologies.