A novel pervasive computing method to enhance efficiency of walking activity

Walking is one of the most common exercise in the world. Controlling this activity according to scientific methods and health standards can be considered as a major step in the promotion of global health. Nowadays, since mobile devices are ubiquitous and smart, they can be utilized to ensure that walking activities are compatible with scientific methods. To achieve this aim, a novel pervasive computing method is presented which can be easily implanted on mobile devices as a smart application. In this method, by analyzing environmental and physiological data along with data related to level of user’s fitness, target heart rate range for the user will be determined. Since our method computes this target heart rate range based on user’s goal for walking which can be fat burning or staying healthy, maintaining the range of user’s heart rate during walking leads to the achievement of highest efficiency for the user. In this regard, a set of environmental sensors and a heart rate sensor are needed on the mobile device. Finally, we leverage the speed of walking and its relation to user’s heart rate to keep the heart rate in the computed target range by delivering controlling messages towards the user during the walk to adjust his or her walking speed. The results of utilizing this method prove its ability in raising the efficiency of walking activity.

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