Wireless bridge to local devices on personal equipment system
Some embodiments are provided for providing a wireless bridge to local devices on personal equipment systems. Personal equipment systems can include wireless communication systems that allow external systems, users, or both to communicate with and access data from local devices on the personal equipment systems. Personal equipment systems are provided having one or more local devices coupled thereto and in wired communication with one another. Personal equipment systems can include a wireless system and local devices attached to a headgear system, the local devices being in wired communication with one another and in wireless communication with external systems. The wireless communication system is configured to establish a wireless connection with external systems for communicating with and accessing local devices that are in wired communication with each other.
1. A personal equipment system arrangement comprising:
a long-range radio electrically coupled to a personal equipment system and configured to communicate voice and data over distances greater than 100 m;
a low-power, short-range wireless communication system electrically coupled to the personal equipment system; and
a higher-power, short-range ultra wideband wireless system electrically coupled to the personal equipment system,
wherein the personal equipment system receives information wirelessly from an external system through the higher-power, short-range ultra-wideband wireless system for information transmitted at a rate greater than or equal to about 500 kbps and through the low-power, short-range wireless communication system for information transmitted at a rate less than 500 kbps.
2. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the low-power, short-range wireless communication system consumes less than or equal to about 500 mW of power.
3. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the low-power, short-range wireless communication system is configured to communicate with the external system only when the external system is located less than or equal to about 5 m from the personal equipment system.
4. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the low-power, short-range wireless communication system receives sensor data from the external system.
5. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the low-power, short-range wireless communication system includes an antenna configured to send and receive electromagnetic signals, a transceiver electrically coupled to the antenna, a primary processor electrically coupled to the transceiver, and a secondary processor electrically coupled to a cabled intrapersonal network, the primary and secondary processors being communicably coupled, the primary and secondary processors configured to encode information received by the antenna for delivery to one or more local devices coupled to the cabled intrapersonal network.
6. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 5 , wherein the cabled intrapersonal network comprises an optical digital signal link.
7. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the low-power, short-range wireless communication system is configured to create the wireless bridge between the external system and the personal equipment system only when the external system is less than or equal to about 5 m from the personal equipment system.
8. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 7 , wherein the external system comprises one of a computer, phone, radio, laptop, or smartphone.
9. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 7 , wherein the external system communicates sensor data associated with the external system to the personal equipment system through the wireless bridge.
10. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 9 , wherein sensor data is at least one of an accelerometer data, MEMs data, image sensor data, and GPS data.
11. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 1 , further comprising:
a primary processor electrically coupled to a transceiver and to an encoding engine configured to encode signals for transmission to the external system and to decode signals received from the external system; and
a secondary processor electrically coupled to the encoding engine, wherein the secondary processor is configured to transmit the signals from the personal equipment system to the encoding engine for encoding and to transmit signals from the encoding engine over a cabled intrapersonal communication network.
12. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 11 , further comprising:
a controller electrically coupled to the primary and secondary processors, wherein the controller is configured to control the operation of the wireless communication system.
13. The personal equipment system arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication system is configured to communicate wirelessly with an external system that is worn on a body of a user or carried by a user.