SBIR Phase I: Auto Pairing Direct to Cellular Telehealth Gateway for Improved COVID-19 Home Health Monitoring Adherence

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括消除与老年人和技术打交道的两个主要障碍的能力：用户界面和互联网可用性。该方法利用了最近（2019年）窄带物联网（NB-IoT）的国家网络覆盖，实现了直接到蜂窝低带宽应用的低功耗，低成本接入。自动配对直接到蜂窝网关为COVID-19诊断患者提供了从家中有效监测症状的能力，从而改善了疾病影响跟踪和监测依从性，同时减少了医院需求，疾病传播和当前基于智能手机的系统的系统成本。当前的系统需要冗长的用户培训和帐户设置，以及在每次阅读期间使用应用程序进行繁琐的测量数据传输。这种目前具有挑战性的界面将被替换为不需要设置或与用户直接交互的单个设备。该方法极大地简化和简化了疾病相关的测量，同时减少了将设备配置到最终用户手中的时间和成本。 虽然专注于COVID-19监测，但该技术也为老年人有效采用远程医疗进行慢性护理监测提供了广泛的应用。这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在提供一种更具成本效益的解决方案，并使老年人和被诊断患有COVID-19的高危人群能够更好地采用和遵守长期，在家，自我监测。该项目的研究目标包括展示一种直接与蜂窝设备自动配对的设备，以满足全球COVID-19应急响应解决方案下COVID-19监测的要求。研究方法包括：演示具有优化窄带性能的设计;演示FCC/IC终端单元认证;以及演示网络认证所需的测试。 这个第一阶段项目的预期技术成果使智能手机为基础的监测系统和网关进入老年人群的慢性病护理monitoring.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project includes the ability to eliminate two of the primary barriers in dealing with seniors and technology: user interfaces and internet availability. The approach makes use of recent (2019) national network coverage for Narrow-Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) enabling low power, low cost access for direct to cellular low bandwidth applications. The auto pairing direct to cellular gateway provides COVID-19 diagnosed patients with the capability to effectively monitor symptoms from home resulting in improved disease impact tracking and monitoring adherence while reducing hospital demand, disease spread, and system costs over current smart phone-based system. Current systems require lengthy user training and account setup as well as cumbersome measurement data transfers using an app during each reading. This currently challenging interface would be replaced with a single device requiring no set up or direct interaction with the user. The approach greatly simplifies and streamlines the disease related measurements while reducing the time and cost of getting devices provisioned and into the end users’ hands. Although focused on COVID-19 monitoring, the technology also provides broad application for effective telemedicine adoption by seniors for chronic care monitoring. This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to provide a solution which is more cost effective and enables greater adoption and compliance for long-term, in-home, self-monitoring of seniors and at-risk populations diagnosed with COVID-19. The research goals of this project include demonstrating an auto pairing direct to cellular device that meets the requirements for COVID-19 monitoring under the global COVID-19 Emergency Response Solution. The research approach includes: demonstrating a design with optimized narrow band performance; demonstrating FCC/IC end unit certification; and demonstrating testing required for network certifications. The anticipated technical results of this Phase I project enable smartphone-based monitoring systems and a gateway into senior populations for chronic care monitoring.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.