Electronic Location Reporting for Individuals With Cognitive Disabilities

描述（由申请人提供）：所提出的努力旨在开发和评估一种无线电子定位系统，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。这对看护者来说是一个非常令人烦恼和常规的问题，有时会对可能徘徊的个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，该单元可以连续向护理人员报告个人的位置，无论是在室内还是室外位置，无论GPS覆盖范围如何。该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Amber Alert）集成，并在紧急情况下快速定位个人方面非常有价值。在第一阶段，我们在一个由家长、教师、自闭症风险管理专业人员和研究人员组成的焦点小组中评估了一种初步设备。我们收集了细化的用户需求、可用性建议和其他理想功能的信息，从而实现了细化的硬件/软件设计。在第二阶段，将建立一套完善的设备，并在更大的用户群中进行测试，最后在大规模的试点测试计划中进行测试。接下来，将生成最终设计，并将完成试生产运行，以验证设计是否已准备好在发布时进行生产。作为商业化战略的一部分，正在进行一项平行的（非SBIR）努力，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。 公共卫生相关性：患有自闭症和其他认知障碍的人（如老年痴呆症）往往会经常离开他们的照顾者。这对看护者来说是一个非常令人烦恼的问题，有时会对流浪者造成身体和情感上的危险。所提出的电子位置报告系统由可穿戴电子导航单元组成，该电子导航单元在室内和室外位置都向护理人员连续报告个人的位置。

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.