Electronic Location Reporting for Individuals With Cognitive Disabilities

描述（由申请人提供）：提议的工作旨在开发和评估无线电子定位系统，用于报告可能流浪或私奔的自闭症和其他认知障碍患者的位置。对于护理人员来说，这是一个非常令人烦恼和常见的问题，有时会对可能游荡的人造成身体和情感上的危险。该系统由一个创新的可穿戴电子导航单元组成，无论在室内还是室外，它都能持续向护理人员报告个人的位置，而不受GPS覆盖范围的影响。这个单元是专门为解决在非结构化的室内和室外环境中任意行人运动的复杂问题而设计的。该系统还可以与其他社区和国家安全网络（如安珀警报）集成，在紧急情况下快速定位个人可能很有价值。在第一阶段，我们在家长、教师、自闭症风险管理专业人员和研究人员的焦点小组中评估了一种初步设备。我们收集了精细化的用户需求、可用性建议，以及关于其他理想特性的信息，从而形成精细化的硬件/软件设计。在第二阶段，将构建一套完善的设备，并在更大的用户群体中进行测试，最后进行大规模的试点测试。接下来，将生成最终设计，并完成试验制造运行，以验证设计是否已准备好在发射时进行制造。作为商业化战略的一部分，一项平行的（非sbir）工作正在进行中，旨在与患者倡导团体和用户团体建立关系，并就该系统进行教育。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed effort is aimed at the development and evaluation of a wireless electronic location system for reporting the location of individuals with autism and other cognitive disabilities, who may wander or elope. This is a very vexing and routine problem for caregivers, and sometimes results in physical and emotional danger to the individuals who may wander. The system consists of an innovative wearable electronic navigation unit, which reports the position of the individual continuously to the caregiver, both i indoor and outdoor locations, irrespective of GPS coverage. This unit is specially designed for addressing the complicated issue of arbitrary pedestrian motion in unstructured indoor and outdoor environments. The system can also be integrated with other community and national safety networks (such as Amber Alert), and can be valuable in quickly locating individuals in emergency situations. In Phase I, we evaluated a preliminary device in a focus group of parents, teachers, autism risk management professionals, and researchers. We gathered refined user requirements, usability recommendations, and information on additional desirable features, resulting in a refined hardware/software design. In Phase II, a refined set of devices will be buil, and tested in larger user groups, and finally, in a wide scale pilot test program. Next, a final design will be generated, and a pilot fabrication run will be completed to verify that the design i ready for manufacturing at launch. A parallel (non-SBIR) effort is underway to build relationships with, and educate patient advocacy groups and user groups about this system, as part of the commercialization strategy. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Individuals with autism and other cognitive disabilities (such as Alzheimers) tend to wander or elope from their caregivers routinely. This is a very vexing problem for caregivers, and sometimes results in physical and emotional danger to the wandering individuals. The proposed electronic location reporting system consists of a wearable electronic navigation unit, which reports the position of the individual continuously to the caregiver, both in indoor and outdoor locations.