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South Pole Wearable expedition
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In November of 2000, two expedition members set
out on a unsupported 60 day skiing expedition from the coast of
Antarctica to the South Pole.
The technology mission was to test wearable computing in
extreme conditions
 and
to send the first live images from a polar skiing expedition.
The Human Edge Tech (HET) team worked with
Ericsson Mobile systems (funds), the Swedish Space Corporation (Orbcomm),
the American BIW Advanced Technology Lab (wearable computers) and HET
team programmers (software and technology setup).
The pioneered technology was later used by polar
 researchers
and the wearable computing experience was evaluated by the US Navy.
The Wearables
- 2 wearable computers
- Head-mounted display
- Flat-panel daylight display
- Wrist mounted key board
- Twiddler key-board
-
Finger-mouse
The wearable computers, used for short dispatches, image editing and
data bases, ran Windows 98 OS. The wearables were carried on the body in
customized vests during the nine hours of daily skiing and stored in sleeping bags at night.
Portable antennas were carried in the expedition
members' backpacks, and the solar panels were mounted on the expedition sleds.
The Communication
 The
only satellite system available for public use at Antarctica in 2000 was
the Orbcomm; a system made for text transmissions only, and limited to
180 characters per transmission.
To enable live image transmissions, HET developed customized
software. Digital images were compressed and translated into ASCCI characters. The
image information was divided into 20-25 small packages. The packages
were transmitted around the clock to an Orbcomm satellite. When received
at the home server, the text packages were restored to a viewable
(typically 4-5 KB) image.
They were the first authentic pictures sent back from an Antarctica
skiing expedition..
Expedition Tech report
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