Accurate WiFi-Based Localization of Dementia Patients For Caregiver Support

摘要 在这个第二阶段的SBIR项目中，ASTER实验室将增强一种基于无线WiFi的鞋垫，该鞋垫设计和 在对痴呆症患者和他们的老年人进行I期试验期间，成功地进行了测试和评估 ，然后调查其在减少照顾者的活动和负担以及改善照顾者方面的有效性 生活质量。据估计，2016年有540万美国人患有阿尔茨海默氏症，而且这一数字增加了50% 预计到2030年，这一数字将会上升。这些患者中的大多数(70%)将住在家里，在那里他们可以得到75%的 他们从非正式的、无偿的照顾者那里得到照顾，比如家人、朋友和邻居。这些照顾者 提供有价值的服务，往往为自己付出巨大的经济和心理代价。2015年，超过18岁 据估计，超过1500万名照顾者提供了10亿小时的无偿护理。约15% 他们中的一些人辞去了工作，或者减少了提供这种护理的时间。这相当于近2220亿美元的 一年内的无偿护理。在无法治愈的情况下，痴呆症患者和照顾者优先考虑生活质量 作为他们最有价值的成果。现有商业解决方案，帮助照顾者定位流浪患者 室内环境缺乏可靠的功能，需要显著的基础设施增强，或负担 患者和护理者都使用必须作为腕带佩戴的非保密电子产品包 或者是皮带挂件。通过提供全面的本地化服务来支持照顾者的需求尚未得到满足 患者在室内和室外工作的解决方案，几乎不需要修改基础设施。紫玛瑙 Labs的新设备被称为Activlink，是一种基于WiFi信号和惯性的患者定位解决方案 优化的传感器，以帮助痴呆症患者的一级和二级照顾者在建筑物中进行监测 环境。Activlink的目的是通过提供高度准确的 指示患者的位置，并结合患者的漫游运动的实时警报。护理者 经常报告由于永久的安全担忧而在正常日常活动中发挥作用的能力下降 要求持续监测他们的病人。Acwitlink提供对实时位置的按需访问 建筑物内的可视化，无论是在相对接近患者的情况下，还是在远程的情况下，都可以 希望监视患者位置的家庭成员或二级照顾者。创新理念 该系统的设计提供了持续的本地化功能，从而提高了患者的生活质量 和护理者可以通过允许两者在家中或在大型室内空间中移动来增强 作为护理机构或医疗中心。此第二阶段SBIR将评估基于WiFi的Activlink的效果 鞋垫为护理者提供增强的患者意识，旨在立即提高他们的质量 通过减轻自己的直接负担，持续在照顾者的监督下生活。嵌入式随机对照 将使用半结构化访谈和对176人收集的观察数据完成评估 患有中度痴呆症的人，他们的家庭照顾者和专业照顾者。

Abstract In this Phase II SBIR project ASTER Labs will enhance a wireless WiFi-based insole that was designed and successfully tested and evaluated during a Phase I trial with elderly persons with dementia and their caregivers, and then investigate its efficacy in reducing caregiver activity and burden, and improving caregiver quality of life. An estimated 5.4 million Americans had Alzheimer's disease in 2016 and a 50% increase in this number is expected by 2030. The majority of these patients (70%) will live at home where they receive 75% of their care from informal, unpaid caregivers, such as family members, friends, and neighbors. These caregivers provide valuable services, often at great economic and psychological cost to themselves. In 2015, over 18 billion hours of unpaid care were estimated to have been provided by over 15 million caregivers. Around 15% of them quit their job or reduced their hours to provide this care. This translated to nearly $222 billion dollars of unpaid care in a single year. In the absence of a cure, dementia patients and caregivers prioritize quality of life as their most valued outcome. Existing commercial solutions to assist caregivers in locating wandering patients lack reliable functionality for indoor environments, require significant infrastructure enhancement, or burden both patient and caregiver with the use of non-discreet electronics packages that must be worn as wristbands or belt mounts. There exists an unmet need to support caregivers by providing a comprehensive localization solution of the patient that works both indoors and outdoors with little to no infrastructure modifications. ASTER Labs' novel device, referred to as Activlink, is a patient localization solution based upon WiFi signal and inertial sensors optimized to assist monitoring by primary and secondary caregivers of dementia patients in building environments. Activlink's purpose is to increase quality of life for caregivers by providing highly accurate indication of a patient's position, combined with real-time alerts of a patient's wandering movements. Caregiver often report reduced abilities to function in normal daily activities due to perpetual safety concerns and the demands of constantly monitoring their patient. Activlink provides on-demand access to real-time location visualization within a building, both while in relatively close proximity to the patient and remotely, for distant family members or secondary caregivers wishing to monitor the patient's location. The innovative concept design for this system provides continuous localization capabilities, so that the quality of life for both patient and caregiver may be enhanced by allowing both to move throughout a home or in large indoor spaces such as a care facility or medical center. This Phase II SBIR will evaluate the efficacy of the WiFi-based Activlink insole to provide caregivers with augmented patient awareness, aiming to immediately improve their quality of life by reducing their direct burden of continuous in care person oversight. Embedded randomized controlled evaluations will be completed using semi-structured interviews and observation data collected on 176 persons with moderate dementia, their family caregivers, and professional care providers.