When Bluetooth, WiFi and all sorts of wireless communication protocols were announced, a lot of us were imagining about what we could be achieved through these, though, admittedly, as it happens with all new ideas, a lot of it was in the fantasy realm. Or, at least, so it seemed at the time. New technologies bring (to me anyway) a feeling of anxiety and impatience that stems from the potential of each new technology, and the range of possibilities each one opens up.

It is a good day then, when you hear about a real-world application that realises an idea you've long had and had envisioned would become a reality at some far point in the future. (BTW, This also makes me feel old, but, well we can't have everything!) This is also one of the reasons I like dealing and working with new technologies, and today is one of those days.

CSR and Bluegiga teamed up to provide Bluetooth connectivity for a heart-rate monitoring system by Polar, entitled Team2. From the press release:

The system comprises of up to 28 Bluetooth heart-rate monitors that link up to a PDA, PC or laptop to log and process the data via a Bluetooth Access Server platform from Bluegiga. The system is ideal for sports teams, research centres and universities to monitor and improve the performance of athletes.

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This enables the heart rate monitors to achieve a battery life of up to 30 hours when using Bluetooth and a range of up to 100 metres -- ideal for monitoring the players in field sports. The Team2 heart-rate monitors are water resistant down to 30 metres, fully shock resistant and each system comes complete with PDAs and PC software for uploading the data and providing analysis.

In an area where more and more sad headlines are being made by heart failures in athletes even in the top competitive level, (one of the most  well-know examples), where there are regular health checks and companies (teams) invest a great deal of money on their assets (players/athletes), I think the system has a lot to offer in the protection of these assets (from a company point of view) and the protection of human life itself. This is the most important purpose this application has to serve: protect athletes' lives.

Still, there are plenty more reasons to use such a system. Team or track coaches will now be able to monitor accurately and in real-time the real fitness levels of each individual athlete, in order to better train each one individually. Sports studies have shown that even in teams players should be separated in groups depending on their fitness level when doing fitness training, as this results in better exercise and results for each player individually. 

While I am very enthusiastic about this, I am still curious to see how well this system does and see reports and results from teams actually using this. Like I said, it is a good day, when an idea becomes reality, but it is an even better one when it has become a real application that also works!

If anyone knows of any athletes or teams using something like this please let me know!