The design process starts with an initial site visit to assess customer needs. During this first phase, students perform a technology survey, identifying and evaluating major components. Since electronic technology changes so rapidly, what might have been infeasible six months ago may now be possible. During the technology survey phase, students identify alternatives for each subsystem. Currently the students read trade magazines, identify suppliers, and contact suppliers to obtain literature on product features. Since the formats of the literature vary, designers often must contact the supplier directly to consult an application engineer. Further phone calls to marketing are required to establish an availability date for the product. During the second phase, the students configure the product to produce the first concept of the total system. They create a conceptual approach by illustrating the concept with “story boards” and simulated walkthroughs that are presented during a second site visit. During this phase, interactions and interfaces between subsystems are identified and inconsistencies between subsystem alternatives are detected. The information used during this phase is derived from product literature. However, the students learn that two products that claim to adhere to the same standard may not be compatible. For example, we recently lost two weeks because a DOS-based speech recognition product would not run on the DOS version on our laptop. Resolution of this discrepancy required a trip to the supplier’s home office. Each month for the next four months, an incremental build of system capabilities provides feedback on the design. Components are evaluated for compatibility, purchased, and integrated with a laptop computer. In addition, the team creates prototypes of alternative shapes for the housing. These prototypes are usually made of wood or styrofoam because even the best rapid manufacturing processes are too slow and expensive during this phase when many alternatives are generated, evaluated, modified, rejected, and resurrected until one is finally selected. During the third site visit, in which we acquire final reactions and suggestions, both the physical and the computer prototypes are evaluated by the customers. Once the functionality of the unit has been frozen, the team begins a detailed design phase. As the design becomes more completely defined, more analytical tools, such as stress analysis, thermal analysis, and assembly analysis, are used. During this phase, the components in the final system are acquired and fabrication of the electronic and mechanical systems commence.

Currently, fabrication of wearable computers requires multiple visits to the supplier. We have developed a network of over 30 component and service suppliers to support the wearable computer project. Our supplier chain encompasses a variety of vendor capabilities ranging from small machine shops to large corporations. Knowledge of our suppliers is essential to