A Multi-Sensor Board (MSB) developed as part of a university-industry project promises to change many aspects of our lives – from the way we get data about exercise to the integrity of airplane wings. It might even help us sleep better at night knowing elderly relatives have taken their medicines.

Developed at Intel Research-Seattle in collaboration with the University of Washington, the MSB contains 11 types of sensors, according to Adam Rea, hardware engineer at the Lab. Among them are an accelerometer; digital compass; barometric pressure, temperature, humidity and audio sensors; and three types of light sensors.

“With the three-axis digital compass, it provides a full six degrees of freedom,” Rea says.

The MSB attaches to the Intel Mote (I-Mote), which contains Bluetooth wireless technology, enabling the board to communicate wirelessly with Bluetooth-enabled cell phones or other devices. The MSB is about the same size as a pager so it can be worn almost anywhere.

“The I-Mote is a mobile platform with six degrees of freedom,” explains Rea. It has capability to do on-board computing and the practical applications are many.

One simple application might be tracking exactly how much work is being done on a long walk through the hills. A device like a pedometer measures only steps taken and distance covered. A MSB-enabled device would combine that with the amount of work actually done (is the wearer running, moving uphill, etc.?) and shoot that data to a cell phone or computer where the full value of the workout would be computed and recorded.

We’ll have more on other work that Intel is doing on sensor-enabled applications soon.