Developments In Plastic Optical Fibers And Wearable Technology - Report Example

Table of Contents 1.Introduction 2 2.Current Use of Wearable Technology 2 3.The Potential Use of Wearable Technology 5 4.Technical, Physical Requirements and consequences of bad designs 5 1.5.Suggestions for Improvement in User and Society Experience 6 1.6.Conclusion and Self reflection 7 2.1.Introduction 9 2.2.Plastic Optical Fibers 9 2.2.1.Structure of Plastic Optical Fibers 10 2.2.2.Material Used 10 2.2.3.Types of Plastic Optical Fibers 10 2.2.4.Attenuation, Numerical Aperture, and Dispersion 10 2.3.Plastic Optic Fibers as compared to the Glass Optical Fibers 11 2.3.1.Differences 11 2.3.2.Advantages of Plastic Fibers over Glass 12 2.3.3.Disadvantages of Plastic Optical Fibers 12 2.4.Plastic Optical Fibers’ Applications 13 2.4.1.Automotive Applications 13 2.4.2.Interconnects and Computer server applications 14 2.4.3.LANs, Home Networks, and Consumer Applications 14 2.4.4.Military and Aerospace Applications 14 2.5.Future of Plastic Optical Fibers 15 2.6.Conclusion and Self Reflection 15 References 17 Appendix 20 1. Task A 1.1. Introduction The word “Wearable technology” is considered as a “buzzword” in today’s high tech market, though this market has subsisted for many years. Finally, in recent days, the wearable technology market has come to the point, where it can thrive due to the presence of supplementary technologies as well as society’s positive attention. As the world has become a global village, where the subsequent stair in high-tech advancement is to implant the technology within humans (Visiongain, 2014). Wearable technology is basically a technological device that can be worn by the users and provide an improved experience to the user, as Jacobi and Schäfer (2013) have defined it as, “…Wearable Technology comprises all technical end devices in the form of clothing and accessories, where the central function is the recording and processing of data related to its user…” (Jacobi & Schäfer, 2013). Such technology has seen an acceptance from the society now a days, where the wearable technology is becoming a norm. It is certain that with such technological revolution, the future will be changing and it will reshape the way people live and do business (Bothun, et al., 2014). As the survey conducted by Visiongain (2014) has reported that in 2014, the market value of global wearable technology is estimated to be $5.26 billion (Visiongain, 2014). The purpose of this report is to explore the current areas of application of wearable technology and also the future of this wearable technology. In addition, this report addressed the technical, physical, and design requirements by the wearable technology and suggestions are made to improve the user and society’s experience in this technology. 1.2. Current Use of Wearable Technology There are a number of areas in which the wearable technology is currently being used, and major companies developing devices in the wearables market include Microsoft, Google, Nike, Adidas, Samsung, and Apple. These areas are grouped differently in literature. Majorly, there are three main segments of wearable technology where it is currently present, which are sports & fitness, Infotainment, and medical, as reported by (Jacobi & Schäfer, 2013). Among these, the sports & fitness have been the major area of application of wearable technology, where these include the devices used by athletes for measuring the body movements, dietary measures and other vibrant functions. For example, Nike has launched a fuel band, which is used by the athletes during their workouts, (as shown in the figure 1 in appendix). Another example is Jawbone Up band, which is used to make a person’s lifestyle healthier one. It is full with devices which are linked to a software based on computer, where it enable a person to trail their all activities on a routine basis, such as sleeping and eating arrangements. Then on these bases, it recommends the person to develop a balanced approach to lead healthy lives (TrendHunter, 2011) (figure 2 in appendix). In this regard, Pitstick and Moorhead (2014) have also argued in their paper that “…fitness & sport tech appears to have gone mainstream as evidenced by the broad set of new players entering and existing players continuing to expand their offerings…” (Pitstick & Moorhead, 2014, p. 1). Currently, there are a number of new devices and bands that are being introduced in the fitness and sports category, such as Adidas MiCoach for sportspersons, Jawbone Up, adiSTAR Fusion, BioHarness applied in crisis situations, Lark sleep sensors and Zephyr’s Customer HxM (Pitstick & Moorhead, 2014). According to Ferguson (2013), a research conducted by IMS Research and Juniper Research, the total share of fitness and sports market is 65% of the wearables market (figure 3 in appendix) (Ferguson, 2013). Another important area of application is the infotainment, which include the technological devices that allow the user to have all smartphone’s features by wearing these devices. For example, a famous smart watch launched by Sony has all these smartphone functions, known as Sony Smart-Watch 2 (Jacobi & Schäfer, 2013) (device is shown in the figure 4). According to Ferguson (2013), the infotainment is another important wearable market area that has much growth potential, and currently it has built a number of infotainment devices, such as smart watches and smart glasses (Ferguson, 2013). Among these, there are other examples of infotainment devices, which are Google Glass, Pebble Smart watch, Vuzix Smart Glasses, and also Go Pro’s Wearable Imaging Devices (Bothun, et al., 2014). According to Ye, et al. (2014), it is expected that the smartphones are much accepted by people and wearables with the smartphones’ functions would be very appealing and liked by consumers (Ye, et al., 2014). Third major current area of application is the medical and healthcare sector, where the technical devices are used for assessing, feeding, and transmitting the information related to the diagnosis and treatment of different diseases of patients. In this regard, the most famous example is Dexcom Glucose G4, which is used to measure the glucose level of the patient, and is used by diabetes patients (Fotiadis, et al., 2013) (figure 5 shown in the appendix). In this respect, Koch (2006) has argued that the current market for wearables in the healthcare sector is very important and demanded by patients, as the current trends show that there is greater demands for the personalized healthcare services, in home healthcare facilities, and quick services by connecting the patients and providers more closely (Koch, 2006). There are other examples in the medical area of application of wearable technology, such as Imec EEG, CGM (continuous glucose monitor), medical patches, Pulse Oximetry, Piezoelectric sensors, MEMS sensors, Photoplethysmography (PPG), Galvanic skin response and Tricoder (Fotiadis, et al., 2013). According to (Bothun, et al., 2014), the wearable technology has brought revolution in a number of other areas, where they also highlighted its use in healthcare area in which it is used for better diagnosis and treatment as well as easy access to important medical information. In addition, there are other three major areas where the wearable technology is currently present, which include the retail industry, military industry and the entertainment and media industry. Bothun et al., (2014) have argued that there is a demand for more integrated shopping, quick services related to payments, highly focused advertising to cater a specific customer segment needs, better customer services as well as loyalty campaigns, which are being fulfilled by the wearable technology. While the increase use of wearables for the higher closeness with the media, social networking, and more fun experiences have led this market to flourish in entertainment and media sector, and also the smart clothing like Zypher’s bioharness in military industry (Bothun, et al., 2014). There are six major areas for which the wearable technology is currently available, such as fitness and sports, healthcare services and medical segment, infotainment, retail or business industry, entertainment and media, and military needs. 1.3. The Potential Use of Wearable Technology There is much uncertainty in the future of the wearable technology, as (Jacobi & Schäfer, 2013) have argued that there is nothing certain about the future of the wearable technology dueato the uncertainty existing in the adoption of this kind of technology among the consumers. However, according to the (Ferguson, 2013) report, where the research conducted by IMS and Juniper Research is reported thaan increaseis an expectation of increase in the market of wearable devices from 15 million devices in 2013 to 70 million devices in 2017. In addition, they further argued that the three major areas of application of wearable technology are the sports and fitness, healthcare services and medical segment, and infotainment, which are the biggest growth markets for wearables in 2016 (Ferguson, 2013). According to (Jacobi & Schäfer, 2013), the highest growth market would be sports and fitness, as shown by figure 6 in appendix. While according to the research conducted in Broadcom Corporation by McGregor (2013), the potential use of wearable technology is expected to rise for about 366% in 2017 (McGregor, 2013). Another survey conducted by (Bothun, et al., 2014) argued that there ian expectationon of the growth in wearable market, as 77% of consumers think that these wearables are good to adopt for increased efficiency in life and work. In contrary to these, in the research performed by Bothun et al., (2014) also stated, “…According to our survey, among the general population a strong percentage of people do not think they’ll actually use these products…” (Bothun, et al., 2014, p. 34). Apart from the high tech consumers, the general public’s adoption rate is uncertain and is negative in most cases. That is why the booming wearables can be a success or a failure in the future, which suggests that the future for wearables has good expectation but still it is uncertain. It can be argued that the future can be made brighter by addressing the requirements for the wearables, discussed in the next section. 1.4. Technical, Physical Requirements and consequences of bad designs The wearable technology has different kinds of technical, physical requirements, as the developers have to consider a number of factors while developing such devices. There are a number of attributes discussed by the research conducted by (McGregor, 2013) that are very important attributes of wearable devices and must be considered carefully by the developers. The wearable technology requires these attributes to be present in them, such as “power efficient, long battery lives, connectivity, accessibility, stylized, accurate sensors, small footprint, security, cost effectiveness, and unobtrusiveness” (McGregor, 2013). These all attributes are important, as the wearables would be used to be more connected to the people so a well-effective connectivity system is required, for the fitness and wellness devices, it is important to have accurate sensors to provide accurate information. Another important feature is the long life battery and power efficient, as these devices would be used so frequent and possibly all the time, so there must be good batteries and power system. Among these, the style or design attribute is of greater importance, as the wearables are considered to be very close to the person, and users feel intimacy with such devices because they are being worn and other can also see these (Fotiadis, et al., 2013). So, the biggest requirement in wearables is the design attribute, but if the designs are not appealing or attractive towards the customers then these can be the biggest hurdle in adoption of these technology devices, as people would hesitate to wear such bulky or ugly devices on their body (Carrington, et al., 2014). Apart from these technical requirements, the physical requirements are also important and different in wearable technology, as these devices could have direct effects on the human bodies, so they must be developed in a way that these devices would not harm the human skin or body organs (IDTechEx, 2014). 1.5. Suggestions for Improvement in User and Society Experience Few suggestions can be made for the betterment of the user and society experience with such wearables and their adoption can be ensured by following some important tactics. The most important suggestion is made by (McGregor, 2013), where it should be the case that the only technological aspects are focused by the developers and a sacrifice is made in the looks or style of the devices by fully concentrating on the performance. Rather, the design is the most critical aspect that must be addressed by the developers, and they should develop the designs according to the latest fashion (McGregor, 2013). Apart from the style of the device, the developers must also focus on the uniqueness to flourish in the market as well as the price can be a major hurdle in adopting such devices, so another suggestion can be made regarding the price (Ferguson, 2013). The general market consumers cannot afford high prices devices, so the developers must develop these devices cost effectively, as Google does with the Google Glass, where the price was set at the $1500 and entered into the consumer market. It is also seen that there are a number of devices encompassing the medical and healthcare sector, and these require a lot of improvements and design features which must be addressed by the developers, as reasoned by (Carrington, et al., 2014). Moreover, the wearable technology market requires a careful analysis for segmenting and targeting of the customer, and after this analysis, the developers must address the specific needs of these customers, as there are a number of segments where the wearable technology can enter (Pitstick & Moorhead, 2014). Lastly, the issue of privacy and security that can also be a hurdle in the adoption of this technology, must also be addressed by the developers, as many people do consider it as a biggest hurdle. 1.6. Conclusion and Self reflection The purpose of this report is to discover the current areas of application of wearable technology and also the future of this wearable technology. There are six major areas for which the wearable technology is currently available, such as fitness and sports, healthcare services and medical segment, infotainment, retail or business industry, entertainment and media, and military needs. There is much uncertainty in the future of the wearable technology, as there are risks inherent in the future of the wearable technology due to the uncertainty existing at the adoption of this kind of technology among the consumers, but the research also suggests that the rise in this market is expected. In addition, this report addressed the technical, physical, and design requirements by the wearable technology, where important attributes are discussed, such as power efficient, long battery lives, connectivity, accessibility, stylized, accurate sensors, small footprint, security, cost effectiveness, and unobtrusiveness. A few suggestions are also made to improve the user and society’s experience in this technology, where the design and style, and the price element of the device are two critical factors. After writing the report, I assert that the design or style is such a crucial element in the wearable technology’s success that is usually missed by the developers who highly focus on the performance aspect. In addition, the targeting of the customers should be made carefully, as these devices are highly customized, such as CGM for diabetes patients. Then the features must be included according to the customer needs, as the medical devices must have other features supporting the patients in quick recoveries. The fulfillment of all requirements of the targeted customers is another key to success. 2. Task 2 2.1. Introduction In the past, the plastic optical fibers (POFs) were not as dominated as in contemporary decades, as these have been outshined recently due to the triumph of glass optical fibers. Glass optical fibers were considered to be more advantageous before, but with the passage of time, the contemporary advancements in technology and its uses have boosted the advantageous use of plastic optical fibers (Polishuk, 2006). With such development, the use of plastic fibers has infused in a number of technology organizations in the globe. In addition, Zubia and Arrue (2001) have also stated, “…since the development of the graded-index plastic optical fibers by Professor Koike at Keio University (1990) and the later attainment of the low-attenuation per-fluorinated fibers (1996)., Plastic optical fibers have received a lot of interest, which is expected to give rise to a great deal of applications in the next several years…” (Zubia & Arrue, 2001, p. 101). The purpose of this report is to discuss the plastic optical fibers in detail, along with its unique features, types, applications, advantages and disadvantages as compared to the glass fibers, and also the future of plastic fibers. 2.2. Plastic Optical Fibers The plastic optical fibers have a long history, where they were firstly developed in 1960’s, but not much used with success, however, with a number of improvements in the technology, there is an upsurge in its use in recent years (Nihei, et al., 1997). The plastic optical fibers are considered to be an inexpensive solution to a number of applications where it is used for smaller distance and lower speed. A plastic optical fiber is developed with the help of a type of plastic called acrylic, which is an essential material of plastic optical fiber, and also it uses fluorinated or else per-fluorinated polymers that is used to develop a layer as a covering or shield material (Morgado, et al., 2002). These fibers are substitutes for the glass optical fibers, copper wires, wireless, and also coaxial cables. There are some requirements for these fibers to work, which include a receiver and transmitter, some connectors and cables that are also required by glass optical fibers (Polishuk, 2006). In addition, these have been downgraded because of their use for small distance applications which are usually of few hundred meters or even less than that, but glass optical fibers are seen better for other applications requiring long distance of hundreds of kilometers (Polishuk, 2006). 2.2.1. Structure of Plastic Optical Fibers Plastic optical fibers are made up of approximately translucent dielectric constituents and these are extremely flexible waveguides. The figure 5 in appendix shows the cross section of the plastic optical fibers, which is circular in shape and is decomposed into three layers, and these three layers are core layer, cladding or covering layer, and a jacket layer, as well as there is another protective shield over these layers (Zubia & Arrue, 2001). 2.2.2. Material Used There are two core materials used for plastic optical fibers, which are PMMA and per-fluorinated, where the PMMA is CH based material, having attenuation of approximately 130 dB/km, functioning at wavelength of about 650 nm, and short link is equal to 50 m, while the Per-Fluorinated is CF based material, with low attenuation of 20 dB/km, functioning at wavelength of about 650/ 850/ 1300 nm, and long link up to 1km (Hess, 2004). 2.2.3. Types of Plastic Optical Fibers The two groups of optical fibers are single mode and multimode, where there are two main types of plastic optical fibers in multimode group, which are called step index and graded index fibers (Laferrierre, et al., 2011). Both of these differ mainly on the basis of their refractive index that can either be uniform or graded, and also they have different demonstrated bit rates (Zubia & Arrue, 2001). Step Index SI-Plastic Optical Fibers have a uniform refractive index and the bit rate is usually 500 Mb/s (100m), whereas Graded Index GI Plastic Optical Fibers have graded refractive index and the bit rate is 10 GB/s (100m). The figures for both types are shown in the appendix (figure 6) (Hess, 2004). 2.2.4. Attenuation, Numerical Aperture, and Dispersion There are three main factors upon which the functioning of plastic optic fibers is dependent, which encompassed attenuation, numerical aperture, and dispersion. These three factors affect the transmission (Laferrierre, et al., 2011). With regard to the dispersion of plastic optical fibers, there is greater dispersion in single index fiber, and low dispersion in graded index fiber. In addition, the plastic optical fiber has following attenuation, numerical aperture, wavelength, cross sections, as provided by Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd. (2014), where these are given on the basis of different bandwidth, fiber diameter, and transmission distance (Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., 2014). 2.3. Plastic Optic Fibers as compared to the Glass Optical Fibers 2.3.1. Differences When the plastic optical fibers are compared with the glass fibers, there are following main differences on the mechanical basis (Boston Optical Fiber, 2000; Polishuk, 2006); (shown in the figure 7) Firstly, these are made up of plastic rather than glass. Plastic optical fibers have their losses at the detectible wavelength at slightest level, but glass fibers have their losses at far longer wavelengths (infrared). In addition, the numerical aperture is high in plastic (0.4) but low in the glass (0.1-0.2) (Polishuk, 2006). Plastic optical fibers are made for shorter distances with respect to the data transmission, while glass fibers are good for long distances. Plastic fibers are more robust and flexible and their cables are thinner and lower in weight, as compared to the glass fibers (Paschotta, 2008). 2.3.2. Advantages of Plastic Fibers over Glass Most of the users argued that there are many advantages given by plastic optical fibers as compared to the glass optical fibers as well as copper wires (Polishuk, 2006). As the plastic optical fibers are more flexible and strong, so their large core and greater numerical aperture allow them to lessen the connectors’ tolerance level. There are simple plastic components used, where there is no requirement of any important training, and thus will save a large amount of cost in a number of applications. The plastic optical fibers are thinner and less costly due to lower assembly costs, as well as light weight components, where they are more resilient from any tremor and crooks. Plastic optical fibers are immune towards electromagnetic interference and also lightening strikes, so they can be beneficial to many applications with many disruptions in operations. They are quite tranquil in handling and easy to connect due to the low diameter of plastic optical fibers (1mm) with regard to glass fibers, which usually have a diameter between 8 to 100 mm (Guerrero, et al., 1998). They are safer than glass fibers, as they don’t need any laser light source, as well as their transceivers need lower power in comparison to glass and copper (Polishuk, 2006). 2.3.3. Disadvantages of Plastic Optical Fibers Along with advantages, there are also some disadvantages posed by the plastic optical fibers in comparison with the glass. Following are some disadvantages that are given by the researchers at POF traded organization, as argued by (Polishuk, 2006). They have greater loss while data transmissions. There are no standards for these plastic optical fibers, and there are few providers that are providing the total system. There is little understanding of the direction for installing and designing the plastic optical fibers within users of these fibers. Up till now, plastic optical fibers are not much manufactured, so there are few customers which have appreciated a possible level of capacity given by plastic fibers. In addition, they are also bad with the temperature factor, as they are high temperature (which can usually reach at 125°C) fibers. 2.4. Plastic Optical Fibers’ Applications Plastic optical fibers are used in a number of applications nowadays. Glass optical fibers have major applications in telecommunications, but the plastic optical fibers have its applications in different industries. Major applications of plastic fibers are industrial controls as well as automotive sectors, as argued by (Polishuk, 2006). While the industrial controls is the most important sector for plastic fibers, where the actual force for this increase in sales of plastic fibers in controls, is “…the need for data links that resist EMI caused by high-voltage and high-current devices, such as arc welders, and high voltage apparatuses, such as X-ray machines and ion-implantation units…” (Polishuk, 2006, p. 3). While in contemporary years, there are a number of innovative applications of plastic fibers developed by automobile organizations. In addition to the automobiles and industry control applications, plastic optical fibers are also used in industries, such as consumer electronics, medical controls, home networks, and aerospace (Plastic Optical Fiber Trade Organization, 2004). These applications and their expansion are shown in the figure 8 and 9 in the appendix. 2.4.1. Automotive Applications Plastic optical fibers are being used in automobiles, where a number of issues were recognized by large car manufacturers, and (Polishuk, 2006) argued that “…the increasing use of digital devices in automobiles increased the weight, susceptibility to EMI, and complexity of wiring harnesses…” (Polishuk, 2006, p. 16). This indicates the need for low weight, less costly and simple components as well as such a system that is immune to EMI, thus the result was the use of plastic optical fibers. These are used in many components in automobile industries, such as Byteflight transceivers used in the BMW cars, and Flexray used in brake pedals. 2.4.2. Interconnects and Computer server applications The plastic optical fibers are also used in interconnects, computer servers, and networks. The plastic optical fibers increases the bandwidth of interconnects, and also supports the higher transfers of data and data linkages. So there are many applications used in huge data centers, super computers, and servers, where there is requirements of large data transfers and interconnections over smaller distances. The use of plastic fibers also reduces the cost and time, as in the large servers, there is need of cooling the servers and it costs much and needs time for that, while plastic optical fibers are good with these (Polishuk, 2006). 2.4.3. LANs, Home Networks, and Consumer Applications Plastic fibers also have their applications in the local area networks (LAN) that are widely being used in small and medium size enterprises, large organizations, and also home networks. There are new plastic fibers, which are providing low cost and small sized connectors as well as transceivers, therefore, these can be used in local area networks successfully. Furthermore, there are a number of consumer applications where these are being used, especially in consumer electronics (Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., 2014). 2.4.4. Military and Aerospace Applications Plastic fibers are also best used in aerospace applications, which provide a number of benefits, as (Polishuk, 2006) argued that the plastic fibers are of lower weight, tolerant to shocks higher bends, small sizes, and high bandwidth capacities within smaller distances. These qualities and capabilities allow the plastic fibers to be used in applications for tanks, helicopters, aircraft, ships, spacecraft, and missiles. In addition, these are also used to develop applications for high speed data linkages for military uses. For instance, Boeing has used plastic optical fiber in the audiovisual system of its new 737 follow-on to save the weight. Moreover, it is being used for its higher temperature fibers and cables that are immune to flames, can be successfully used in aerospace as well as military applications (Polishuk, 2006). 2.5. Future of Plastic Optical Fibers The plastic optical fibers are considered to be an innovative technological application, while Christenson (1997) has regarded this technology as a disruptive one (Christenson, 1997). With regard to the future of plastic optical fibers, it can be said that these technologies will be used in coming years, especially in the automobile industry and also others related to data linkages, as these are less costly and light weight technologies supporting higher speed data transfers (Schopp, 2005). The prospects of this technology will rise in future as Christensen argued that there was little awareness and very few initial applications developed using plastic fibers (Christenson, 1997), but now the time has changed, there are number of applications using plastic fibers, and further can be developed too (Polishuk, 2006). Koike and Asai (2009) have also argued that plastic optical fibers are successfully being used for network infrastructure due to its large diameter and greater flexibility. It has a bright future in network and computer industry. In addition, Koike and Asai (2009) have stated, “…POF has two important weaknesses: it has significantly lower bandwidth than GOF, and its attenuation is far higher…” (Koike & Asai, 2009, p. 22), but they further argued that contemporary advancements have overcome these flaws and now plastic optical fibers are the strongest technology for the optical data transmission (Koike & Asai, 2009). 2.6. Conclusion and Self Reflection This report has presented the detailed analysis of plastic optical fibers, where the features of plastic fibers, its types, applications, advantages and disadvantages as compared to the glass fibers, and also the future of plastic fibers are discussed. The report concludes that the plastic optical fibers have advantages and disadvantages as compared to the glass optical fibers, but the new developments and technological advancements have shown the recovery of these disadvantages. However, there are different situations and requirements, where the plastic fibers should be used rather than glass, for instance, the plastic fibers can be better applied in the military and aerospace applications than the glass optical fibers. After writing this report, I am hopeful that the future of plastic optical fiber will be brighter, as with the passage of time, it will be more useful in many fields by overcoming its current weaknesses. With new insights in this field, the industrial data-com and automobile will be the major application areas of the plastic optical fibers. References Boston Optical Fiber, 2000. Raytela Polymer Optical Fiber Cord, Online: Toray Industries. Bothun, D. et al., 2014. 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[Online] Available at: http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/jawbone-up [Accessed 30 January 2014]. Visiongain, 2014. Wearable Technology Market Report 2014-2019 Companies Harnessing Value in Fitness, mHealth, Augmented Reality, Cameras & E-Textiles. [Online] Available at: https://www.visiongain.com/Report/1283/Wearable-Technology-Market-Report-2014-2019 [Accessed 30th January 2015]. Ye, H., Malu, M., Oh, U. & Findlater, L., 2014. Current and Future Mobile and Wearable Device Use by People With Visual Impairments. Proc. CHI11, 1(1), pp. 1-10. Zubia, J. & Arrue, J., 2001. Plastic Optical Fibers: An Introduction to Their Technological Processes and Applications. Optical Fiber Technology, 7(2), p. 101–140. Appendix Figure 1. Wearable Technology Applications, Fuel Band by Nike. (Source: Jacobi & Schäfer, 2013) Figure 2. Jawbone UP Wristband. Source; (TrendHunter, 2011) Figure 3. World Market for wearable technology by The IMS and Juniper Research. Source: (Ferguson, 2013) Figure 4. Sony Smart Watch 2. Source: (Jacobi & Schäfer, 2013) Figure 5. Dexcom Glucose G4 Source: (Jacobi & Schäfer, 2013) Figure 6. The growth markets for the wearable technology. Source; (Jacobi & Schäfer, 2013). Figure 7. Step Index and Graded Index Plastic Optical Fibers. Source: (Hess, 2004, p. 6). Figure 8. Comparison of Plastic Optical Fibers with Glass Optical Fibers. Source: (Polishuk, 2006, p. 3) Figure 9. Plastic Optical Fibers Applications. Source: (Hess, 2004, p. 10) Figure 10. Expansion of Data applications by Plastic Optical Fibers. Source: (Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., 2014) Read More