Signature Q1 2009 - (Page 18) By Mike Sharsky | Photography by Guilain Grenier | Q1 ’09 Bluetooth Technology EXPLORER Setting sail on the high seas in a small boat is a perilous endeavor, and For more information on Cyberfab’s use of Bluetooth technology, visit cyberfab.net. competing in oceangoing sailboat races requires many months – even years – of rigorous preparation. So there’s no guarantee that Luce Molinier will qualify for the 2009 Transat 6.5, a 6,800-kilometer (4,200-mile) dash from Fort Boyard, a Napoleonic-era structure in the French coastal waters of Charente-Maritime, to Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. (The race name refers to the 6.5-meter [21-foot] length limit on competing boats.) But in 2008, during her run-up to this year’s race, Molinier experimented with a Bluetooth enabled sensor The Atlantic Ocean may prove to be an ideal place system that she hopes will help her better understand the stresses her body and boat endure while traversing to test Bluetooth technology. One French sailor hopes long stretches of open ocean. to have the chance during a 2009 transatlantic race. Molinier has been running qualifying races using the Mobicardio system from Cyberfab, a French technology company that specializes in mobile applications. Mobicardio offers real-time tracking of heart rate, body temperature and caloric consumption, as well as GPS positional data. In addition to sailing applications, Cyberfab also creates sensors that monitor a wide range of data from other sporting equipment. Such data can help athletes, coaches, doctors and even equipment manufacturers measure performance. Michael Setton, Cyberfab’s founder and chief executive officer, says the new Bluetooth low energy technology – which offers long-lasting, power-independent functionality – will be a boon for sensor development, particularly for long-distance sports like sailing. “Right now the big problem is how often you have to recharge the sensors,” Setton says. “I think (Luce’s) boat is a very nice field test for Bluetooth low energy because we want to get data not only from the sailor but from the boat itself, like the shear force on the sail. You cannot drill too many holes in a boat, so it’s important to have wireless sensors. So I think Bluetooth low energy technology will be the first to allow sensors to function with solar energy, and you’ve got a lot of that on boats!” On the Right Tack 18 | SIGnature | Bluetooth.org http://www.cyberfab.net http://www.bluetooth.org
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.