C.-C. Yang and Y.-L. Hsu (Taiwan)
Physical activity, fall detection, tri-axial accelerometer, home telehealth, ambulatory monitoring
Quantitative assessment of daily physical activity in a home environment provides significant information in evaluation of health status and the quality of life of subjects with limited mobility and chronic diseases. This study developed a home telehealth-based application, a wearable system for real-time human physical activity ambulatory monitoring by using only one mobile sensing device which utilizes tri-axial accelerometry measurement and the distributed data processing modality. This system is able to identify several targeted human postures, postural transitions and walking with the embedded algorithm. In addition, this system also features fall detection capability which might be highly desired for elderly care. The results of the test for evaluating the performance of the system show high identification accuracy for both still postures and dynamic movements. A long-term ambulatory test at home was also demonstrated and the recorded data indicated sufficient information regarding the subject’s activities of daily living. Some inherent limitations concerning real-time identification were discussed. Despite the limitations, this system is technically viable for ambulatory application to provide sufficient information in evaluating a person’s activity of daily living (ADL) and his physical mobility level. Potential wok of this system in the future is also discussed.
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