In-home monitoring system for assessing gait using wall-mounted RF transceivers

 描述(申请人提供)：该项目的目标是开发和评估一种名为GaitRF的新系统，该系统可以在家里被动地测量行走速度和其他详细的步态参数。行动能力是一个关键的功能，它是质量的基础 老年人以及患有神经或身体疾病的人的生活。步态方面的变化，如行走速度、步长、步幅不平衡等，已被证明与身体和认知健康的变化有关。步态通常在临床环境中定期测量。家庭监护提供了持续和持续测量的优势，提供了关于现实生活条件下患者健康变化的更多信息。对家庭内步态的持续准确估计可以帮助指导照顾者了解将老年人过渡到更高水平护理的必要性。准确的家庭步态监测还有可能鼓励老年人在以后的生活中保持独立性，使家人和朋友能够远程监测健康状况。建议的系统利用了EmbededRF正在开发的新无线技术。一组微小的收发器被放置在走廊或门框中，并被配置为在彼此之间无线发送射频(RF)信号。当一个人经过收发机时，他们的身体会扰乱射频信号强度，从而无需佩戴任何监控设备就可以估计步态指标。仅使用2或4个收发信机的初步结果已经证明了准确估计步行速度的能力。初步结果还显示，在多人居住的家庭中区分个人或在照顾者或朋友来访时排除数据的独特能力。该提案的具体目标是：1)进一步开发使用收发信机对进行步行速度估计的原型系统；2)研究和开发放置在基板高度的传感器阵列，以提取更详细的步态测量；第二个收发信机对将放置在大约头部高度，以提供多人辨别能力；以及3)对GaitRF系统进行初步的内部评估。先进的机器学习和跟踪算法将被用来处理射频信号，以提取步态指标。我们将评估 GaitRF在实验室环境以及单人和多人老年人之家的性能。如果成功，这种新的系统具有低成本、不引人注目、易于安装的优势，同时仍然提供准确和详细的步态测量。该系统可以用作独立的步态监视器，也可以集成到更一般的健康监测系统中。这项技术的应用将支持独立生活，也可能用于影响行动能力的药物或程序的临床试验。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is to develop and evaluate a new system called GaitRF that can measure walking speed and other detailed gait parameters passively within the home. The ability to move is a critical function that underlies the quality of life for elders as well as those suffering from neurologic or physical ailments. Changes in aspects of gait such as walking speed, stride length, stride imbalance, etc. have been shown to correlate with changes in physical and cognitive health. Gait is typically measured periodically within a clinical setting. In-home monitoring offers the advantage of continuous and ongoing measurements providing significantly more information about changes in a patient's health under real life conditions. Ongoing accurate estimation of gait within the home can help to guide caregivers about the need for transitioning older adults to higher levels of care. Accurate in-home gait monitoring also has the potential to encourage older adults to maintain independence later into their lives by enabling family members and friends to monitor health status remotely. The proposed system makes use of novel wireless technology being developed at EmbedRF. An array of tiny transceivers are positioned in either a hallway or doorframe and configured to wirelessly send radio frequency (RF) signals between each other. As a person walks past the transceivers, their body disrupts the RF signal strength allowing for the estimation of gait metric without the need for the person to wear any monitoring device. Preliminary results using only 2 or 4 transceivers have already demonstrated the ability to accurately estimate walking speed. Preliminary results also show the unique ability to discriminate between individuals for use in a multi-resident home or to exclude data when a caregiver or friend visits. Specific aims in this proposal will 1) further develop prototype systems for walking speed estimation using transceiver pairs, 2) research and develop use of an array of sensors placed at base-board height in order to extract more detailed gait metrics; a second transceiver pair will be placed at approximate head height to provide multi-person discrimination capability, and 3) perform preliminary in-home evaluations of the GaitRF system. Advanced machine learning and tracking algorithms will be utilized to process the RF signals to extract gait metrics. We will evaluate the performance of GaitRF in both a laboratory setting and within single-resident and multi- resident homes of seniors. If successful, this new system has the advantage of being low-cost, unobtrusive, and easy to install, while still providing accurate and detailed gait metrics. The system can be used as a stand-alone gait monitor or incorporated into more general health monitoring systems. Application of the technology will support independent living and may also be used in clinical trials of drugs or procedures that affect mobility.