I-Corps: A Sensor Technology Box for Smart Health

美国人口普查局报告称，2010年至2050年间，美国65岁及以上人口将增长一倍以上。远程患者监护市场预计将从2012年的106亿美元增长到2017年的212亿美元。受这一日益增长的市场需求的启发，该项目旨在构建一个集成且可靠的传感器系统，该系统可部署在多个家庭的独立生活应用中，用于监测老年人的功能、行为和认知健康。这使老年人能够在自己的家庭环境中独立生活，并帮助他们优雅地变老。该项目的目标是开发一种低成本、可互操作的平台技术，该平台技术高度可用，低收入群体负担得起。该项目开发的传感器原型和服务将部署在大巴尔的摩大都市区的退休社区和辅助生活中心。该项目的范围包括设计一种低成本的解决方案，将各种传感器技术和不同的软件平台连接到用于独立生活应用的最终用户控制系统。该项目旨在最大限度地减少传感器故障、功耗、网络资源使用、连接和带宽需求；生产可扩展和可靠的系统，可以以最小的开销快速部署在家庭环境中。该项目的具体目标包括：(1)设计低成本、小型化、高可靠性的基于ARM的运动传感器节点；(2)将传感器与面向服务的体系结构和模型集成；(3)开发活动识别算法；(4)评估系统的整体性能。在i-Corps课程期间，将通过严格的测试、部署和客户的反馈来重新评估这些目标。通过在低成本、可靠和可互操作的系统中简化拟议的解决方案，该项目预计将加快远程家庭健康和健康监测一站式技术解决方案的快速开发和部署。该团队将通过采访客户来调查潜在的市场机会，开发概念验证原型，并将其部署在真实环境中进行验证。来自用户的反馈将被纳入原型设计阶段，并将在i-Corps计划结束时制定商业计划。

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the U.S. population of people aged 65 and up will grow more than double in between 2010 and 2050. The market for remote patient monitoring is expected to grow from $10.6 billion in 2012 to $21.2 billion in 2017. Inspired by this growing market need, this project aims to build an integrated and reliable sensor system that can be deployed for independent living applications across multiple homes for monitoring functional, behavioral and cognitive health of older adults. This enables the older adults to live independently in their own home environment and helps them age gracefully. The project targets to develop a low-cost interoperable platform technology which is highly-available and affordable by low-income group. The sensor prototypes and services developed in this project will be deployed in retirement community and assisted living centers in greater Baltimore metropolitan area. The scope of the project involves designing a low-cost solution connecting the varied sensor technologies and diverse software platforms to an end-user controlled system for independent living applications. The project aims to minimize the sensor malfunctioning, power consumption, network resource usage, connectivity and bandwidth requirements; producing a scalable and reliable system that can be rapidly deployed in home environment with minimal overhead. The specific goals of the project include: (1) design inexpensive miniaturized ARM-based motion sensor nodes with high reliability, (2) integrate the sensors with service-oriented architecture and models, (3) develop activity recognition algorithms, and (4) evaluate the overall system performance. These goals will be reevaluated through rigorous testing, deployment and customers' feedback during the I-Corps curriculum. By streamlining the proposed solutions in a low-cost, reliable and interoperable system the project is expected to accelerate the rapid development and deployment of a one-stop technological solution for remote home health and wellness monitoring. The team will investigate the potential market opportunity by interviewing the customers, develop proof-of-concept prototype and deploy that in real settings for the validations. The feedback from the users will be incorporated in the prototype design phase and a business plan will be postulated at the end of the I-Corps program.