Electronic Location Reporting for Individuals With Cognitive Disabilities

描述(由申请人提供)：拟议的工作旨在开发和评估一个无线电子定位系统，用于报告患有自闭症和其他认知障碍的人的位置，这些人可能会走失或私奔。对于照顾者来说，这是一个非常令人烦恼和例行公事的问题，有时还会给可能走失的个人带来身体和情感上的危险。该系统由创新的可穿戴电子导航单元组成，无论GPS覆盖范围如何，该单元都能连续向照顾者报告个人的位置，无论是室内还是室外位置。该装置是专门为解决非结构化室内和室外环境中行人任意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(如琥珀警报)集成，在紧急情况下快速定位人员方面具有重要价值。在第一阶段，我们在父母、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的设备。我们收集了精细化的用户需求、可用性建议和有关其他所需功能的信息，从而形成了精细化的硬件/软件设计。在第二阶段，一套完善的设备将被制造出来，并在更大的用户群中进行测试，最后，在一个大规模的中试计划中。下一步，将生成最终设计，并将完成试制运行，以验证设计I已准备好在发射时投入生产。作为商业化战略的一部分，一项平行的(非SBIR)努力正在进行，以建立与患者倡导团体和用户团体的关系，并对他们进行关于该系统的教育。

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.