Position tracking and mobility assessment system for indoor monitoring of elders

说明(申请人提供)：该项目的长期目标是使老年人在晚年能够独立地生活在自己的家中，并保证他们的安全和福祉可以由卫生保健专业人员远程监测。远程卫生保健监测的一个关键组成部分是对患者在生活环境中的位置进行物理跟踪并评估患者的行动能力。研究表明，包括步态特征在内的移动性与患者的健康密切相关，移动性的变化可以作为认知和/或身体衰退的指标。位置跟踪和活动信息可以进一步用于估计临床上相关的日常生活活动，这在评估患者健康方面也是有用的。 这项研究的目标是研究和开发一个专门针对家庭环境中的老年患者的位置跟踪和行动能力评估系统。最终的系统将是低成本、准确、不引人注目和安装简单的。第一阶段的具体目标是进行必要的研究，以演示系统的两种配置或模式：基于标签的跟踪，依赖于患者(S)佩戴大约25美分大小的微型无线收发器；以及无标签跟踪，即使患者没有携带跟踪标签，也可以进行位置和速度跟踪。这两种模式都利用低功率无线技术和接收信号强度指示器(RSSI)的变化，RSSI指示发射器和接收器之间的距离。基于标签的跟踪的位置跟踪将通过使用标签和安装在家庭墙壁上的小型收发机之间的多个RSSI测量的概率推断来执行。位置跟踪将通过融合RSSI数据与数字罗盘和加速度计数据来增强。无标签跟踪将用于单个患者的监测条件，如果成功，将提供一个独特的解决方案，降低患者未佩戴标签的关键合规风险。使用RSSI数据再次实现跟踪，并且家庭内的硬件安装与基于标签的跟踪相同。然而，无标签方法只依赖于安装在墙上的收发器来检测RSSI测量的变化，这些变化受到房间内移动的患者的反射和吸收的影响。 位置跟踪和移动性评估系统将使用该项目的行业合作伙伴EmbedRF LLC设计的无线平台进行设计。跟踪算法的工作将由俄勒冈健康与科学大学的研究人员执行，俄勒冈健康与科学大学是学术/研究合作伙伴。第一阶段将包括研究以证明该技术的可行性，并生产原型系统以供OHSU护理点实验室评估。第二阶段的工作将包括硬件修改和算法设计，以提高跟踪性能和对移动性的其他方面的检测。第二阶段还将涉及进一步的商业化努力和开发供保健专业人员使用的远程监测和通知系统，并包括在人们家中进行更广泛的临床评估。 公共卫生相关性：行动能力是老年人生活质量的关键功能。此外，行动能力方面的变化，如行走速度和步长，已被证明与身体和认知功能的变化有关。开发一种低成本的位置跟踪和行动能力评估系统，将使老年人能够继续在家中独立生活，同时知道医疗保健提供者会随着时间的推移或紧急情况发生时监测他们的健康状况。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long term objective of this project is to enable elderly persons to independently live within their own homes later into their lives with the assurance that their safety and well-being can be remotely monitored by health care professionals. A critical component of remote health care monitoring is physically tracking the location of the patient within a living environment and assessing the patient's mobility. Research has shown that mobility, which includes gait characteristics, is integrally related to patient health and changes in mobility can be an indicator of cognitive and/or physical decline. Positional tracking and mobility information can be further used to estimate clinically relevant activities of daily living, which are also useful in assessing patient health. The objective of this STTR is to research and develop a Position Tracking and Mobility Assessment System targeted specifically for elderly patients within their home environment. The eventual system will be low-cost, accurate, unobtrusive, and simple to install. The specific aims of phase 1 are to perform the research necessary to demonstrate two configurations or modes of the system: Tag-Based Tracking that relies on the patient(s) wearing a tiny wireless transceiver about the size of a quarter, and Tag-Free Tracking that will enable position and velocity tracking even when a patient is not carrying a tracking tag. Both modes make use of low-power wireless technology and changes in receive-signal-strength-indicator (RSSI), which indicates distance between a transmitter and a receiver. Position tracking for the Tag-Based Tracking will be performed by probabilistic inference using multiple RSSI measurements between the tag and small transceivers mounted on walls of the home. Position tracking will be augmented by fusing RSSI data with digital compass and accelerometer data. The Tag-Free Tracking will be for single-patient monitoring conditions and if successful will provide a unique solution that mitigates a critical compliance risk regarding patient failure to wear the tags. Tracking is again achieved using RSSI data and the hardware installation within the home is identical to the tag-based tracking. However, the tag-free method relies only on wall-mounted transceivers to detect changes in RSSI measurements affected by reflections and absorption off of the patient moving within a room. The Position Tracking and Mobility Assessment System will be designed using the wireless platform engineered by EmbedRF LLC - the industry partner for this project. Work on the tracking algorithms will be performed by researchers at the Oregon Health & Sciences University - the academic/research partner. Phase 1 will involve research to demonstrate feasibility of the technology, and producing prototype systems for evaluation at the OHSU point-of-care lab. Phase 2 efforts will include hardware modifications and algorithm design to improve both tracking performance and the detection of other aspects of mobility. Phase 2 will also involve further commercialization efforts and development of the remote monitoring and notification system for use by health-care professionals, and include a more extensive clinical evaluation within peoples' homes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The ability to move is a critical function that underlies the quality of life of elders. In addition, changes in aspects of mobility such as speed of walking and stride length have been shown to correlate with changes in physical and cognitive function. Development of a low cost system for unobtrusive position tracking and mobility assessment will allow elders to continue independent living within their homes while knowing that health care providers are monitoring their well-being over time or should an emergency arise.