This is a suite of devices and protocols to support applications in wearable human/social sensing linked to a distributed camera and vision system. The current system includes a sensate wristwatch with biological and gestural sensors, and a lapel-pin device with motion and audio-affect sensing. These all communicate with wall-mounted devices (Portals), each of which has a high-resolution camera, environmental sensors, and a localization system for all devices in the network. All devices record data and audio in sync with the recorded video. A full-spec Zigbee network supports device synchronization and mesh networking. All devices have enough on-board power to extract features from the data.