SensusMobile

Name: SensusMobile
Author: University of Virginia

University of Virginia

DOCUMENTED

Published in academic literature

For:Researchers & AcademicsIndustry Professionals

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App Summary

SensusMobile is a research platform that enables researchers, particularly those without a technical background, to design and deploy mobile sensing studies for collecting data from participants' smartphones. The associated research highlights that Sensus is designed to lower the technical barrier for human-subject studies by providing a graphical interface for creating and deploying complex sensing plans across both iOS and Android devices. The authors conclude that Sensus provides an effective and low-burden system for data collection, making sophisticated mobile crowdsensing methods more accessible to communities that study human behavior.

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Detailed Description

Functionality & Mechanism

SensusMobile is a general-purpose, cross-platform mobile crowdsensing system developed for human-subject research. The framework enables researchers to design and deploy data collection protocols via a graphical user interface, eliminating programming requirements. These protocols, or "sensing plans," leverage device hardware (e.g., GPS, HealthKit) and software sensors to gather passive data and deploy sensor-triggered surveys. The system manages all data collection, anonymization, and storage, ensuring a uniform participant experience across operating systems.

Evidence & Research Context

The associated research details the system's design, which aims to lower technical barriers for investigators conducting mobile crowdsensing (MCS) studies.
Core capabilities include a graphical interface for study design, support for diverse software and hardware sensors, and cross-platform deployment on iOS and Android.
The platform's feasibility was demonstrated in two human-subject studies (psychology and engineering), with feedback indicating it is an effective, low-burden data collection tool.
The system architecture supports complex research methodologies, including the implementation of randomized controlled trials with double-blind participant assignment.

Intended Use & Scope

This system is intended for human-subject researchers in fields such as psychology, public health, and engineering. Its primary utility is as a data collection framework for designing and deploying mobile sensing and survey-based studies. SensusMobile is a research utility and does not function as a diagnostic or therapeutic tool; the integrity and interpretation of collected data are contingent upon the researcher's specific study protocol.

Studies & Publications

1 publication

Peer-reviewed research associated with this app.

Development/Design Paper

Sensus: A Cross-Platform, General-Purpose System for Mobile Crowdsensing in Human-Subject Studies

Xiong et al. (2016) · Proceedings of UbiComp 2016

Describes the research-driven development of this app

The burden of entry into mobile crowdsensing (MCS) is prohibitively high for human-subject researchers who lack a technical orientation. As a result, the benefits of MCS remain beyond the reach of research communities (e.g., psychologists) whose expertise in the study of human behavior might advance applications and understanding of MCS systems. This paper presents Sensus, a new MCS system for human-subject studies that bridges the gap between human-subject researchers and MCS methods. Sensus alleviates technical burdens with on-device, GUI-based design of sensing plans, simple and efficient distribution of sensing plans to study participants, and uniform participant experience across iOS and Android devices. Sensing plans support many hardware and software sensors, automatic deployment of sensor-triggered surveys, and double-blind assignment of participants within randomized controlled trials. Sensus offers these features to study designers without requiring knowledge of markup and programming languages. We demonstrate the feasibility of using Sensus within two human-subject studies, one in psychology and one in engineering. Feedback from non-technical users indicates that Sensus is an effective and low-burden system for MCS-based data collection and analysis.