Managing Sensor Data in Ambient Assisted Living

Nugent, C.D.,Galway, L.,Chen, L.,Donnelly, M.P.,Mcclean, S.I.,Zhang, S.,Scotney, B.W.,Parr, G. Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Eng 2011 Journal of Computing Science and Engineering Vol.5 No.3

The use of technology within the home has gained wide spread acceptance as one possible approach to be used in addressing the challenges of an ageing society. A number of rudimentary assistive solutions are now being deployed in real settings but with the introduction of these technology-orientated services come a number of challenges, which to date are still largely unsolved. At a fundamental level, the management and processing of the large quantities of data generated from multiple sensors is recognised as one of the most significant challenges. This paper aims to present an overview of the types of sensor technologies used within Ambient Assisted Living. Subsequently, through presentation of a series of case studies, the paper will demonstrate how the practical integration of multiple sources of sensor data can be used to improve the overall concept and applications of Ambient Assisted Living.

Making Smart Shirts Smarter: Optimal Electrode Placement for Cardiac Assessment

C. Nugent,N. Black,M. Donnelly,D. Finlay,P. McCullagh 동국대학교 정보융합기술원 2007 International Journal of Assistive Robotics and Sy Vol.8 No.2

Managing Sensor Data in Ambient Assisted Living

C. D. Nugent,L. Galway,L. Chen,M. P. Donnelly,S. I. McClean,S. Zhang,B. W. Scotney,G. Parr 한국정보과학회 2011 Journal of Computing Science and Engineering Vol.5 No.3

The use of technology within the home has gained wide spread acceptance as one possible approach to be used in addressing the challenges of an ageing society. A number of rudimentary assistive solutions are now being deployed in real settings but with the introduction of these technology-orientated services come a number of challenges, which to date are still largely unsolved. At a fundamental level, the management and processing of the large quantities of data generated from multiple sensors is recognised as one of the most significant challenges. This paper aims to present an overview of the types of sensor technologies used within Ambient Assisted Living. Subsequently, through presentation of a series of case studies, the paper will demonstrate how the practical integration of multiple sources of sensor data can be used to improve the overall concept and applications of Ambient Assisted Living.

Assessment of Bradykinesia, Akinesia and Rigidity Using a Home-based Assessment Tool

L. Cunningham,C. Nugent,G. Moore,D. Finlay,D. Craig 동국대학교 정보융합기술원 2009 International Journal of Assistive Robotics and Sy Vol.10 No.4

An increase in the prevalence of age related diseases such as Parkinson's Disease (PD) and the increasingly aging population has created a need for appropriate health and social care services for the elderly and disabled. PD requires close monitoring and regular assessment. In order to be assessed and monitored, people are usually required to attend a clinic or hospital. In this study a home-based assessment tool, which collects information on people’s hand and finger movements, has been developed and evaluated. The tool collects data on the time taken to make a series of movements, the speed at which the movements are made and the path that is taken for each movement. Through the use of this tool movement difficulties such as bradykinesia, akinesia and rigidity could be identified within the home environment. Such an approach has the potential to decrease the number of clinic/hospital visits a person with PD requires. It could also assist with making the current, somewhat subjective, methods of PD assessment become more objective. If used over a long period of time, for example, daily or weekly, it could help identify how effective or otherwise a person's medication is. This would be achieved by the tool collecting data on a regular basis in order to establish what is considered to be ‘normal’ results for that particular person. So for example, a pattern may emerge over a few months that each time a particular participant is ‘off’ they take the same or similar length of time to use the tool. It could be suggested that the length of time the participant took to use the tool when ‘off’ during those months was their ‘normal’ result for their ‘off’ state. If, after a period of time, the results collected seemed ‘abnormal’ for that person it could indicate that a visit to the clinician is needed to identify if the medication needs changed. The developed tool was evaluated by twenty participants. Half of the participants had been diagnosed with PD and the other half were a control group without the disease. Within each group there were a mix of participants who were computer literate and those who had no experience of using computers. Results following evaluation of the tool indicated that the control group were able to conduct assessments using the tool in a time that was significantly shorter than that taken by the PD group (p = 0.034). This in turn suggests that such tools have the ability to assist with enabling more objective assessment of PD.

Making Smart Shirts Smarter : Optimal Electrode Placement for Cardiac Assessment

M. Donnelly,C. Nugent,D. Finlay,P. McCullagh,N. Black 한국과학기술원 인간친화 복지 로봇 시스템 연구센터 2007 International Journal of Assistive Robotics and Me Vol.8 No.2

  The use of smart textiles within clothing offers the facility to monitor patient vital signs in an unobtrusive manner. In the present study we examine the benefits of integrating electrodes into smart shirts taking into consideration aspects of practical limitations in sensor placement. Three practical scenarios are investigated which restrict possible recording sites to the anterior, lateral, and posterior regions, respectively. A wrapper approach incorporating both nearest neighbor and logistic regression models was adopted to search for and extract relevant features. Two discrimination tasks were investigated; identifying between subjects with evidence of old myocardial infarction, and normal healthy subjects; and identifying between subject suffering from left ventricular hypertrophy and healthy subjects. The results from the study indicate that acceptable classification performance is possible even if recording sites are restricted due to practical constraints.

Assistive Services in Ubiquitous Smart Home Environments

M. Mokhtari,C.D. Nugent 한국과학기술원 인간친화 복지 로봇 시스템 연구센터 2008 International Journal of Assistive Robotics and Me Vol.9 No.1

Assessment of Bradykinesia, Akinesia and Rigidity Using a Home-based Assessment Tool

L,Cunningham,C,Nugent,G,Moore,D,Finlay,D,Craig 동국대학교 정보융합기술원 2009 International Journal of Assistive Robotics and Sy Vol.10 No.4

An increase in the prevalence of age related diseases such as Parkinson's Disease (PD) and the increasingly aging population has created a need for appropriate health and social care services for the elderly and disabled. PD requires close monitoring and regular assessment. In order to be assessed and monitored, people are usually required to attend a clinic or hospital. In this study a home-based assessment tool, which collects information on people’s hand and finger movements, has been developed and evaluated. The tool collects data on the time taken to make a series of movements, the speed at which the movements are made and the path that is taken for each movement. Through the use of this tool movement difficulties such as bradykinesia, akinesia and rigidity could be identified within the home environment. Such an approach has the potential to decrease the number of clinic/hospital visits a person with PD requires. It could also assist with making the current, somewhat subjective, methods of PD assessment become more objective. If used over a long period of time, for example, daily or weekly, it could help identify how effective or otherwise a person's medication is. This would be achieved by the tool collecting data on a regular basis in order to establish what is considered to be ‘normal’ results for that particular person. So for example, a pattern may emerge over a few months that each time a particular participant is ‘off’ they take the same or similar length of time to use the tool. It could be suggested that the length of time the participant took to use the tool when ‘off’ during those months was their ‘normal’ result for their ‘off’ state. If, after a period of time, the results collected seemed ‘abnormal’ for that person it could indicate that a visit to the clinician is needed to identify if the medication needs changed. The developed tool was evaluated by twenty participants. Half of the participants had been diagnosed with PD and the other half were a control group without the disease. Within each group there were a mix of participants who were computer literate and those who had no experience of using computers. Results following evaluation of the tool indicated that the control group were able to conduct assessments using the tool in a time that was significantly shorter than that taken by the PD group (p = 0.034). This in turn suggests that such tools have the ability to assist with enabling more objective assessment of PD.