Editorial

6 pages, 209 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare: An Overview

by Mohy Uddin and Shabbir Syed-Abdul

Sensors 2020, 20(5), 1379; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20051379 - 03 Mar 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4434

Improving health and lives of people is undoubtedly one of the prime goals of healthcare organizations, policy-makers, and leaders around the world [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

21 pages, 2548 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using Accelerometer and GPS Data for Real-Life Physical Activity Type Detection

by Hoda Allahbakhshi, Lindsey Conrow, Babak Naimi and Robert Weibel

Sensors 2020, 20(3), 588; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20030588 - 21 Jan 2020

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 7770

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the role of global positioning system (GPS) sensor data in real-life physical activity (PA) type detection. Thirty-three young participants wore devices including GPS and accelerometer sensors on five body positions and performed daily PAs in two protocols, namely [...] Read more.

This paper aims to examine the role of global positioning system (GPS) sensor data in real-life physical activity (PA) type detection. Thirty-three young participants wore devices including GPS and accelerometer sensors on five body positions and performed daily PAs in two protocols, namely semi-structured and real-life. One general random forest (RF) model integrating data from all sensors and five individual RF models using data from each sensor position were trained using semi-structured (Scenario 1) and combined (semi-structured + real-life) data (Scenario 2). The results showed that in general, adding GPS features (speed and elevation difference) to accelerometer data improves classification performance particularly for detecting non-level and level walking. Assessing the transferability of the models on real-life data showed that models from Scenario 2 are strongly transferable, particularly when adding GPS data to the training data. Comparing individual models indicated that knee-models provide comparable classification performance (above 80%) to general models in both scenarios. In conclusion, adding GPS data improves real-life PA type classification performance if combined data are used for training the model. Moreover, the knee-model provides the minimal device configuration with reliable accuracy for detecting real-life PA types. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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8 pages, 390 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Allumo: Preprocessing and Calibration Software for Wearable Accelerometers Used in Posture Tracking

by Alexis Fortin-Côté, Jean-Sébastien Roy, Laurent Bouyer, Philip Jackson and Alexandre Campeau-Lecours

Sensors 2020, 20(1), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20010229 - 31 Dec 2019

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2783

Abstract

Inertial measurement units have recently shown great potential for the accurate measurement of joint angle movements in replacement of motion capture systems. In the race towards long duration tracking, inertial measurement units increasingly aim to ensure portability and long battery life, allowing improved [...] Read more.

Inertial measurement units have recently shown great potential for the accurate measurement of joint angle movements in replacement of motion capture systems. In the race towards long duration tracking, inertial measurement units increasingly aim to ensure portability and long battery life, allowing improved ecological studies. Their main advantage over laboratory grade equipment is their usability in a wider range of environment for greater ecological value. For accurate and useful measurements, these types of sensors require a robust orientation estimation that remains accurate over long periods of time. To this end, we developed the Allumo software for the preprocessing and calibration of the orientation estimate of triaxial accelerometers. This software has an automatic orientation calibration procedure, an automatic erroneous orientation-estimate detection and useful visualization to help process long and short measurement periods. These automatic procedures are detailed in this paper, and two case studies are presented to showcase the usefulness of the software. The Allumo software is open-source and available online. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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13 pages, 1637 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparing Clothing-Mounted Sensors with Wearable Sensors for Movement Analysis and Activity Classification

by Udeni Jayasinghe, William S. Harwin and Faustina Hwang

Sensors 2020, 20(1), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20010082 - 21 Dec 2019

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3970

Abstract

Inertial sensors are a useful instrument for long term monitoring in healthcare. In many cases, inertial sensor devices can be worn as an accessory or integrated into smart textiles. In some situations, it may be beneficial to have data from multiple inertial sensors, [...] Read more.

Inertial sensors are a useful instrument for long term monitoring in healthcare. In many cases, inertial sensor devices can be worn as an accessory or integrated into smart textiles. In some situations, it may be beneficial to have data from multiple inertial sensors, rather than relying on a single worn sensor, since this may increase the accuracy of the analysis and better tolerate sensor errors. Integrating multiple sensors into clothing improves the feasibility and practicality of wearing multiple devices every day, in approximately the same location, with less likelihood of incorrect sensor orientation. To facilitate this, the current work investigates the consequences of attaching lightweight sensors to loose clothes. The intention of this paper is to discuss how data from these clothing sensors compare with similarly placed body worn sensors, with additional consideration of the resulting effects on activity recognition. This study compares the similarity between the two signals (body worn and clothing), collected from three different clothing types (slacks, pencil skirt and loose frock), across multiple daily activities (walking, running, sitting, and riding a bus) by calculating correlation coefficients for each sensor pair. Even though the two data streams are clearly different from each other, the results indicate that there is good potential of achieving high classification accuracy when using inertial sensors in clothing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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17 pages, 4637 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Physical Workload Tracking Using Human Activity Recognition with Wearable Devices

by Jose Manjarres, Pedro Narvaez, Kelly Gasser, Winston Percybrooks and Mauricio Pardo

Sensors 2020, 20(1), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20010039 - 19 Dec 2019

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 4126

Abstract

In this work, authors address workload computation combining human activity recognition and heart rate measurements to establish a scalable framework for health at work and fitness-related applications. The proposed architecture consists of two wearable sensors: one for motion, and another for heart rate. [...] Read more.

In this work, authors address workload computation combining human activity recognition and heart rate measurements to establish a scalable framework for health at work and fitness-related applications. The proposed architecture consists of two wearable sensors: one for motion, and another for heart rate. The system employs machine learning algorithms to determine the activity performed by a user, and takes a concept from ergonomics, the Frimat’s score, to compute the corresponding physical workload from measured heart rate values providing in addition a qualitative description of the workload. A random forest activity classifier is trained and validated with data from nine subjects, achieving an accuracy of 97.5%. Then, tests with 20 subjects show the reliability of the activity classifier, which keeps an accuracy up to 92% during real-time testing. Additionally, a single-subject twenty-day physical workload tracking case study evinces the system capabilities to detect body adaptation to a custom exercise routine. The proposed system enables remote and multi-user workload monitoring, which facilitates the job for experts in ergonomics and workplace health. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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18 pages, 5048 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wearable Fall Detector Using Recurrent Neural Networks

by Francisco Luna-Perejón, Manuel Jesús Domínguez-Morales and Antón Civit-Balcells

Sensors 2019, 19(22), 4885; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19224885 - 08 Nov 2019

Cited by 63 | Viewed by 4799

Abstract

Falls have become a relevant public health issue due to their high prevalence and negative effects in elderly people. Wearable fall detector devices allow the implementation of continuous and ubiquitous monitoring systems. The effectiveness for analyzing temporal signals with low energy consumption is [...] Read more.

Falls have become a relevant public health issue due to their high prevalence and negative effects in elderly people. Wearable fall detector devices allow the implementation of continuous and ubiquitous monitoring systems. The effectiveness for analyzing temporal signals with low energy consumption is one of the most relevant characteristics of these devices. Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have demonstrated a great accuracy in some problems that require analyzing sequential inputs. However, getting appropriate response times in low power microcontrollers remains a difficult task due to their limited hardware resources. This work shows a feasibility study about using RNN-based deep learning models to detect both falls and falls’ risks in real time using accelerometer signals. The effectiveness of four different architectures was analyzed using the SisFall dataset at different frequencies. The resulting models were integrated into two different embedded systems to analyze the execution times and changes in the model effectiveness. Finally, a study of power consumption was carried out. A sensitivity of 88.2% and a specificity of 96.4% was obtained. The simplest models reached inference times lower than 34 ms, which implies the capability to detect fall events in real-time with high energy efficiency. This suggests that RNN models provide an effective method that can be implemented in low power microcontrollers for the creation of autonomous wearable fall detection systems in real-time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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21 pages, 3974 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Analyzing Spinal Shape Changes During Posture Training Using a Wearable Device

by Katharina Stollenwerk, Jonas Müller, André Hinkenjann and Björn Krüger

Sensors 2019, 19(16), 3625; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19163625 - 20 Aug 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5063

Abstract

Lower back pain is one of the most prevalent diseases in Western societies. A large percentage of European and American populations suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. One successful approach to address lower back pain is postural training, which [...] Read more.

Lower back pain is one of the most prevalent diseases in Western societies. A large percentage of European and American populations suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. One successful approach to address lower back pain is postural training, which can be supported by wearable devices, providing real-time feedback about the user’s posture. In this work, we analyze the changes in posture induced by postural training. To this end, we compare snapshots before and after training, as measured by the Gokhale SpineTracker™. Considering pairs of before and after snapshots in different positions (standing, sitting, and bending), we introduce a feature space, that allows for unsupervised clustering. We show that resulting clusters represent certain groups of postural changes, which are meaningful to professional posture trainers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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14 pages, 538 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Impact of Interpolation Methods of Missing RR-intervals Caused by Motion Artifacts on HRV Features Estimations

by Davide Morelli, Alessio Rossi, Massimo Cairo and David A. Clifton

Sensors 2019, 19(14), 3163; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19143163 - 18 Jul 2019

Cited by 46 | Viewed by 5868

Abstract

Wearable physiological monitors have become increasingly popular, often worn during people’s daily life, collecting data 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the last decade, these devices have attracted the attention of the scientific community as they allow us to automatically [...] Read more.

Wearable physiological monitors have become increasingly popular, often worn during people’s daily life, collecting data 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the last decade, these devices have attracted the attention of the scientific community as they allow us to automatically extract information about user physiology (e.g., heart rate, sleep quality and physical activity) enabling inference on their health. However, the biggest issue about the data recorded by wearable devices is the missing values due to motion and mechanical artifacts induced by external stimuli during data acquisition. This missing data could negatively affect the assessment of heart rate (HR) response and estimation of heart rate variability (HRV), that could in turn provide misleading insights concerning the health status of the individual. In this study, we focus on healthy subjects with normal heart activity and investigate the effects of missing variation of the timing between beats (RR-intervals) caused by motion artifacts on HRV features estimation by randomly introducing missing values within a five min time windows of RR-intervals obtained from the nsr2db PhysioNet dataset by using Gilbert burst method. We then evaluate several strategies for estimating HRV in the presence of missing values by interpolating periods of missing values, covering the range of techniques often deployed in the literature, via linear, quadratic, cubic, and cubic spline functions. We thereby compare the HRV features obtained by handling missing data in RR-interval time series against HRV features obtained from the same data without missing values. Finally, we assess the difference between the use of interpolation methods on time (i.e., the timestamp when the heartbeats happen) and on duration (i.e., the duration of the heartbeats), in order to identify the best methodology to handle the missing RR-intervals. The main novel finding of this study is that the interpolation of missing data on time produces more reliable HRV estimations when compared to interpolation on duration. Hence, we can conclude that interpolation on duration modifies the power spectrum of the RR signal, negatively affecting the estimation of the HRV features as the amount of missing values increases. We can conclude that interpolation in time is the optimal method among those considered for handling data with large amounts of missing values, such as data from wearable sensors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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10 pages, 664 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Inertial Measurement Unit Based Upper Extremity Motion Characterization for Action Research Arm Test and Activities of Daily Living

by Hyung Seok Nam, Woo Hyung Lee, Han Gil Seo, Yoon Jae Kim, Moon Suk Bang and Sungwan Kim

Sensors 2019, 19(8), 1782; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19081782 - 14 Apr 2019

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4780

Abstract

In practical rehabilitation robot development, it is imperative to pre-specify the critical workspace to prevent redundant structure. This study aimed to characterize the upper extremity motion during essential activities in daily living. An IMU-based wearable motion capture system was used to access arm [...] Read more.

In practical rehabilitation robot development, it is imperative to pre-specify the critical workspace to prevent redundant structure. This study aimed to characterize the upper extremity motion during essential activities in daily living. An IMU-based wearable motion capture system was used to access arm movements. Ten healthy subjects performed the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) and six pre-selected essential daily activities. The Euler angles of the major joints, and acceleration from wrist and hand sensors were acquired and analyzed. The size of the workspace for the ARAT was 0.53 (left-right) × 0.92 (front-back) × 0.89 (up-down) m for the dominant hand. For the daily activities, the workspace size was 0.71 × 0.70 × 0.86 m for the dominant hand, significantly larger than the non-dominant hand (p ≤ 0.011). The average range of motion (RoM) during ARAT was 109.15 ± 18.82° for elbow flexion/extension, 105.23 ± 5.38° for forearm supination/pronation, 91.99 ± 0.98° for shoulder internal/external rotation, and 82.90 ± 22.52° for wrist dorsiflexion/volarflexion, whereas the corresponding range for daily activities were 120.61 ± 23.64°, 128.09 ± 22.04°, 111.56 ± 31.88°, and 113.70 ± 18.26°. The shoulder joint was more abducted and extended during pinching compared to grasping posture (p < 0.001). Reaching from a grasping posture required approximately 70° elbow extension and 36° forearm supination from the initial position. The study results provide an important database for the workspace and RoM for essential arm movements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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13 pages, 2917 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design of a Wearable 12-Lead Noncontact Electrocardiogram Monitoring System

by Chien-Chin Hsu, Bor-Shing Lin, Ke-Yi He and Bor-Shyh Lin

Sensors 2019, 19(7), 1509; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19071509 - 28 Mar 2019

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 6914

Abstract

A standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is an important tool in the diagnosis of heart diseases. Here, Ag/AgCl electrodes with conductive gels are usually used in a 12-lead ECG system to access biopotentials. However, using Ag/AgCl electrodes with conductive gels might be inconvenient in [...] Read more.

A standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is an important tool in the diagnosis of heart diseases. Here, Ag/AgCl electrodes with conductive gels are usually used in a 12-lead ECG system to access biopotentials. However, using Ag/AgCl electrodes with conductive gels might be inconvenient in a prehospital setting. In previous studies, several dry electrodes have been developed to improve this issue. However, these dry electrodes have contact with the skin directly, and they might be still unsuitable for patients with wounds. In this study, a wearable 12-lead electrocardiogram monitoring system was proposed to improve the above issue. Here, novel noncontact electrodes were also designed to access biopotentials without contact with the skin directly. Moreover, by using the mechanical design, this system allows the user to easily wear and take off the device and to adjust the locations of the noncontact electrodes. The experimental results showed that the proposed system could exactly provide a good ECG signal quality even while walking and could detect the ECG features of the patients with myocardial ischemia, installation pacemaker, and ventricular premature contraction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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17 pages, 3492 KiB

Open AccessArticle

P-Ergonomics Platform: Toward Precise, Pervasive, and Personalized Ergonomics using Wearable Sensors and Edge Computing

by Mario Vega-Barbas, Jose A. Diaz-Olivares, Ke Lu, Mikael Forsman, Fernando Seoane and Farhad Abtahi

Sensors 2019, 19(5), 1225; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19051225 - 11 Mar 2019

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5159

Abstract

Preventive healthcare has attracted much attention recently. Improving people’s lifestyles and promoting a healthy diet and wellbeing are important, but the importance of work-related diseases should not be undermined. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are among the most common work-related health problems. Ergonomists already assess [...] Read more.

Preventive healthcare has attracted much attention recently. Improving people’s lifestyles and promoting a healthy diet and wellbeing are important, but the importance of work-related diseases should not be undermined. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are among the most common work-related health problems. Ergonomists already assess MSD risk factors and suggest changes in workplaces. However, existing methods are mainly based on visual observations, which have a relatively low reliability and cover only part of the workday. These suggestions concern the overall workplace and the organization of work, but rarely includes individuals’ work techniques. In this work, we propose a precise and pervasive ergonomic platform for continuous risk assessment. The system collects data from wearable sensors, which are synchronized and processed by a mobile computing layer, from which exposure statistics and risk assessments may be drawn, and finally, are stored at the server layer for further analyses at both individual and group levels. The platform also enables continuous feedback to the worker to support behavioral changes. The deployed cloud platform in Amazon Web Services instances showed sufficient system flexibility to affordably fulfill requirements of small to medium enterprises, while it is expandable for larger corporations. The system usability scale of 76.6 indicates an acceptable grade of usability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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13 pages, 1174 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wearable Sensor-Based Exercise Biofeedback for Orthopaedic Rehabilitation: A Mixed Methods User Evaluation of a Prototype System

by Rob Argent, Patrick Slevin, Antonio Bevilacqua, Maurice Neligan, Ailish Daly and Brian Caulfield

Sensors 2019, 19(2), 432; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19020432 - 21 Jan 2019

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 7843

Abstract

The majority of wearable sensor-based biofeedback systems used in exercise rehabilitation lack end-user evaluation as part of the development process. This study sought to evaluate an exemplar sensor-based biofeedback system, investigating the feasibility, usability, perceived impact and user experience of using the platform. [...] Read more.

The majority of wearable sensor-based biofeedback systems used in exercise rehabilitation lack end-user evaluation as part of the development process. This study sought to evaluate an exemplar sensor-based biofeedback system, investigating the feasibility, usability, perceived impact and user experience of using the platform. Fifteen patients participated in the study having recently undergone knee replacement surgery. Participants were provided with the system for two weeks at home, completing a semi-structured interview alongside the System Usability Scale (SUS) and user version of the Mobile Application Rating Scale (uMARS). The analysis from the SUS (mean = 90.8 [SD = 7.8]) suggests a high degree of usability, supported by qualitative findings. The mean adherence rate was 79% with participants reporting a largely positive user experience, suggesting it offers additional support with the rehabilitation regime. Overall quality from the mean uMARS score was 4.1 out of 5 (SD = 0.39), however a number of bugs and inaccuracies were highlighted along with suggestions for additional features to enhance engagement. This study has shown that patients perceive value in the use of wearable sensor-based biofeedback systems and has highlighted the benefit of user-evaluation during the design process, illustrated the need for real-world accuracy validation, and supports the ongoing development of such systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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24 pages, 3649 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Breathing Parameters Using an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)-Based System

by Ambra Cesareo, Ylenia Previtali, Emilia Biffi and Andrea Aliverti

Sensors 2019, 19(1), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19010088 - 27 Dec 2018

Cited by 42 | Viewed by 6644

Abstract

Breathing frequency (f_B) is an important vital sign that—if appropriately monitored—may help to predict clinical adverse events. Inertial sensors open the door to the development of low-cost, wearable, and easy-to-use breathing-monitoring systems. The present paper proposes a new posture-independent processing algorithm [...] Read more.

Breathing frequency (f_B) is an important vital sign that—if appropriately monitored—may help to predict clinical adverse events. Inertial sensors open the door to the development of low-cost, wearable, and easy-to-use breathing-monitoring systems. The present paper proposes a new posture-independent processing algorithm for breath-by-breath extraction of breathing temporal parameters from chest-wall inclination change signals measured using inertial measurement units. An important step of the processing algorithm is dimension reduction (DR) that allows the extraction of a single respiratory signal starting from 4-component quaternion data. Three different DR methods are proposed and compared in terms of accuracy of breathing temporal parameter estimation, in a group of healthy subjects, considering different breathing patterns and different postures; optoelectronic plethysmography was used as reference system. In this study, we found that the method based on PCA-fusion of the four quaternion components provided the best f_B estimation performance in terms of mean absolute errors (<2 breaths/min), correlation (r > 0.963) and Bland–Altman Analysis, outperforming the other two methods, based on the selection of a single quaternion component, identified on the basis of spectral analysis; particularly, in supine position, results provided by PCA-based method were even better than those obtained with the ideal quaternion component, determined a posteriori as the one providing the minimum estimation error. The proposed algorithm and system were able to successfully reconstruct the respiration-induced movement, and to accurately determine the respiratory rate in an automatic, position-independent manner. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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24 pages, 7340 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Data Analytics of a Wearable Device for Heat Stroke Detection

by Shih-Sung Lin, Chien-Wu Lan, Hao-Yen Hsu and Sheng-Tao Chen

Sensors 2018, 18(12), 4347; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18124347 - 09 Dec 2018

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 6940

Abstract

When exercising in a high-temperature environment, heat stroke can cause great harm to the human body. However, runners may ignore important physiological warnings and are not usually aware that a heat stroke is occurring. To solve this problem, this study evaluates a runner’s [...] Read more.

When exercising in a high-temperature environment, heat stroke can cause great harm to the human body. However, runners may ignore important physiological warnings and are not usually aware that a heat stroke is occurring. To solve this problem, this study evaluates a runner’s risk of heat stroke injury by using a wearable heat stroke detection device (WHDD), which we developed previously. Furthermore, some filtering algorithms are designed to correct the physiological parameters acquired by the WHDD. To verify the effectiveness of the WHDD and investigate the features of these physiological parameters, several people were chosen to wear the WHDD while conducting the exercise experiment. The experimental results show that the WHDD can identify high-risk trends for heat stroke successfully from runner feedback of the uncomfortable statute and can effectively predict the occurrence of a heat stroke, thus ensuring safety. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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17 pages, 7595 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Feature Extraction and Similarity of Movement Detection during Sleep, Based on Higher Order Spectra and Entropy of the Actigraphy Signal: Results of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

by Miguel Enrique Iglesias Martínez, Juan M. García-Gomez, Carlos Sáez, Pedro Fernández de Córdoba and J. Alberto Conejero

Sensors 2018, 18(12), 4310; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18124310 - 06 Dec 2018

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3378

Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop a new unsupervised exploratory method of characterizing feature extraction and detecting similarity of movement during sleep through actigraphy signals. We here propose some algorithms, based on signal bispectrum and bispectral entropy, to determine the unique [...] Read more.

The aim of this work was to develop a new unsupervised exploratory method of characterizing feature extraction and detecting similarity of movement during sleep through actigraphy signals. We here propose some algorithms, based on signal bispectrum and bispectral entropy, to determine the unique features of independent actigraphy signals. Experiments were carried out on 20 randomly chosen actigraphy samples of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) database, with no information other than their aperiodicity. The Pearson correlation coefficient matrix and the histogram correlation matrix were computed to study the similarity of movements during sleep. The results obtained allowed us to explore the connections between certain sleep actigraphy patterns and certain pathologies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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16 pages, 2244 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of Different Sets of Features for Human Activity Recognition by Wearable Sensors

by Samanta Rosati, Gabriella Balestra and Marco Knaflitz

Sensors 2018, 18(12), 4189; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18124189 - 29 Nov 2018

Cited by 60 | Viewed by 5228

Abstract

Human Activity Recognition (HAR) refers to an emerging area of interest for medical, military, and security applications. However, the identification of the features to be used for activity classification and recognition is still an open point. The aim of this study was to [...] Read more.

Human Activity Recognition (HAR) refers to an emerging area of interest for medical, military, and security applications. However, the identification of the features to be used for activity classification and recognition is still an open point. The aim of this study was to compare two different feature sets for HAR. Particularly, we compared a set including time, frequency, and time-frequency domain features widely used in literature (FeatSet_A) with a set of time-domain features derived by considering the physical meaning of the acquired signals (FeatSet_B). The comparison of the two sets were based on the performances obtained using four machine learning classifiers. Sixty-one healthy subjects were asked to perform seven different daily activities wearing a MIMU-based device. Each signal was segmented using a 5-s window and for each window, 222 and 221 variables were extracted for the FeatSet_A and FeatSet_B respectively. Each set was reduced using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) simultaneously performing feature selection and classifier optimization. Our results showed that Support Vector Machine achieved the highest performances using both sets (97.1% and 96.7% for FeatSet_A and FeatSet_B respectively). However, FeatSet_B allows to better understand alterations of the biomechanical behavior in more complex situations, such as when applied to pathological subjects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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14 pages, 3651 KiB

Open AccessArticle

LSTM-Guided Coaching Assistant for Table Tennis Practice

by Se-Min Lim, Hyeong-Cheol Oh, Jaein Kim, Juwon Lee and Jooyoung Park

Sensors 2018, 18(12), 4112; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18124112 - 23 Nov 2018

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 4994

Abstract

Recently, wearable devices have become a prominent health care application domain by incorporating a growing number of sensors and adopting smart machine learning technologies. One closely related topic is the strategy of combining the wearable device technology with skill assessment, which can be [...] Read more.

Recently, wearable devices have become a prominent health care application domain by incorporating a growing number of sensors and adopting smart machine learning technologies. One closely related topic is the strategy of combining the wearable device technology with skill assessment, which can be used in wearable device apps for coaching and/or personal training. Particularly pertinent to skill assessment based on high-dimensional time series data from wearable sensors is classifying whether a player is an expert or a beginner, which skills the player is exercising, and extracting some low-dimensional representations useful for coaching. In this paper, we present a deep learning-based coaching assistant method, which can provide useful information in supporting table tennis practice. Our method uses a combination of LSTM (Long short-term memory) with a deep state space model and probabilistic inference. More precisely, we use the expressive power of LSTM when handling high-dimensional time series data, and state space model and probabilistic inference to extract low-dimensional latent representations useful for coaching. Experimental results show that our method can yield promising results for characterizing high-dimensional time series patterns and for providing useful information when working with wearable IMU (Inertial measurement unit) sensors for table tennis coaching. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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14 pages, 1479 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identifying Free-Living Physical Activities Using Lab-Based Models with Wearable Accelerometers

by Arindam Dutta, Owen Ma, Meynard Toledo, Alberto Florez Pregonero, Barbara E. Ainsworth, Matthew P. Buman and Daniel W. Bliss

Sensors 2018, 18(11), 3893; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18113893 - 12 Nov 2018

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3848

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to classify, and model various physical activities performed by a diverse group of participants in a supervised lab-based protocol and utilize the model to identify physical activity in a free-living setting. Wrist-worn accelerometer data were collected from [...] Read more.

The purpose of this study was to classify, and model various physical activities performed by a diverse group of participants in a supervised lab-based protocol and utilize the model to identify physical activity in a free-living setting. Wrist-worn accelerometer data were collected from (

N = 152

) adult participants; age 18–64 years, and processed the data to identify and model unique physical activities performed by the participants in controlled settings. The Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and the hidden Markov model (HMM) algorithms were used to model the physical activities with time and frequency-based accelerometer features. An overall model accuracy of 92.7% and 94.7% were achieved to classify 24 physical activities using GMM and HMM, respectively. The most accurate model was then used to identify physical activities performed by 20 participants, each recorded for two free-living sessions of approximately six hours each. The free-living activity intensities were estimated with 80% accuracy and showed the dominance of stationary and light intensity activities in 36 out of 40 recorded sessions. This work proposes a novel activity recognition process to identify unsupervised free-living activities using lab-based classification models. In summary, this study contributes to the use of wearable sensors to identify physical activities and estimate energy expenditure in free-living settings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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21 pages, 5278 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Realization and Technology Acceptance Test of a Wearable Cardiac Health Monitoring and Early Warning System with Multi-Channel MCGs and ECG

by Wen-Yen Lin, Hong-Lin Ke, Wen-Cheng Chou, Po-Cheng Chang, Tsai-Hsuan Tsai and Ming-Yih Lee

Sensors 2018, 18(10), 3538; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18103538 - 19 Oct 2018

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 5205

Abstract

In this work, a wearable smart clothing system for cardiac health monitoring with a multi-channel mechanocardiogram (MCG) has been developed to predict the myo-cardiac left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) function and to provide early risk warnings to the subjects. In this paper, the [...] Read more.

In this work, a wearable smart clothing system for cardiac health monitoring with a multi-channel mechanocardiogram (MCG) has been developed to predict the myo-cardiac left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) function and to provide early risk warnings to the subjects. In this paper, the realization of the core of this system, i.e., the Cardiac Health Assessment and Monitoring Platform (CHAMP), with respect to its hardware, firmware, and wireless design features, is presented. The feature values from the CHAMP system have been correlated with myo-cardiac functions obtained from actual heart failure (HF) patients. The usability of this MCG-based cardiac health monitoring smart clothing system has also been evaluated with technology acceptance model (TAM) analysis and the results indicate that the subject shows a positive attitude toward using this wearable MCG-based cardiac health monitoring and early warning system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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12 pages, 1570 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fusion of Heart Rate, Respiration and Motion Measurements from a Wearable Sensor System to Enhance Energy Expenditure Estimation

by Ke Lu, Liyun Yang, Fernando Seoane, Farhad Abtahi, Mikael Forsman and Kaj Lindecrantz

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 3092; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18093092 - 14 Sep 2018

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 5020

Abstract

This paper presents a new method that integrates heart rate, respiration, and motion information obtained from a wearable sensor system to estimate energy expenditure. The system measures electrocardiography, impedance pneumography, and acceleration from upper and lower limbs. A multilayer perceptron neural network model [...] Read more.

This paper presents a new method that integrates heart rate, respiration, and motion information obtained from a wearable sensor system to estimate energy expenditure. The system measures electrocardiography, impedance pneumography, and acceleration from upper and lower limbs. A multilayer perceptron neural network model was developed, evaluated, and compared to two existing methods, with data from 11 subjects (mean age, 27 years, range, 21–65 years) who performed a 3-h protocol including submaximal tests, simulated work tasks, and periods of rest. Oxygen uptake was measured with an indirect calorimeter as a reference, with a time resolution of 15 s. When compared to the reference, the new model showed a lower mean absolute error (MAE = 1.65 mL/kg/min, R² = 0.92) than the two existing methods, i.e., the flex-HR method (MAE = 2.83 mL/kg/min, R² = 0.75), which uses only heart rate, and arm-leg HR+M method (MAE = 2.12 mL/kg/min, R² = 0.86), which uses heart rate and motion information. As indicated, this new model may, in combination with a wearable system, be useful in occupational and general health applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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12 pages, 1260 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantile Coarsening Analysis of High-Volume Wearable Activity Data in a Longitudinal Observational Study

by Ying Kuen Cheung, Pei-Yun Sabrina Hsueh, Ipek Ensari, Joshua Z. Willey and Keith M. Diaz

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 3056; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18093056 - 12 Sep 2018

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3887

Abstract

Owing to advances in sensor technologies on wearable devices, it is feasible to measure physical activity of an individual continuously over a long period. These devices afford opportunities to understand individual behaviors, which may then provide a basis for tailored behavior interventions. The [...] Read more.

Owing to advances in sensor technologies on wearable devices, it is feasible to measure physical activity of an individual continuously over a long period. These devices afford opportunities to understand individual behaviors, which may then provide a basis for tailored behavior interventions. The large volume of data however poses challenges in data management and analysis. We propose a novel quantile coarsening analysis (QCA) of daily physical activity data, with a goal to reduce the volume of data while preserving key information. We applied QCA to a longitudinal study of 79 healthy participants whose step counts were monitored for up to 1 year by a Fitbit device, performed cluster analysis of daily activity, and identified individual activity signature or pattern in terms of the clusters identified. Using 21,393 time series of daily physical activity, we identified eight clusters. Employment and partner status were each associated with 5 of the 8 clusters. Using less than 2% of the original data, QCA provides accurate approximation of the mean physical activity, forms meaningful activity patterns associated with individual characteristics, and is a versatile tool for dimension reduction of densely sampled data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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16 pages, 1526 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Device-Independent Efficient Actigraphy Signal-Encoding System for Applications in Monitoring Daily Human Activities and Health

by Yashodhan Athavale and Sridhar Krishnan

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 2966; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18092966 - 06 Sep 2018

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5839

Abstract

Actigraphs for personalized health and fitness monitoring is a trending niche market and fit aptly in the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) paradigm. Conventionally, actigraphy is acquired and digitized using standard low pass filtering and quantization techniques. High sampling frequencies and quantization resolution [...] Read more.

Actigraphs for personalized health and fitness monitoring is a trending niche market and fit aptly in the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) paradigm. Conventionally, actigraphy is acquired and digitized using standard low pass filtering and quantization techniques. High sampling frequencies and quantization resolution of various actigraphs can lead to memory leakage and unwanted battery usage. Our systematic investigation on different types of actigraphy signals yields that lower levels of quantization are sufficient for acquiring and storing vital movement information while ensuring an increase in SNR, higher space savings, and in faster time. The objective of this study is to propose a low-level signal encoding method which could improve data acquisition and storage in actigraphs, as well as enhance signal clarity for pattern classification. To further verify this study, we have used a machine learning approach which suggests that signal encoding also improves pattern recognition accuracy. Our experiments indicate that signal encoding at the source results in an increase in SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) by at least 50–90%, coupled with a bit rate reduction by 50–80%, and an overall space savings in the range of 68–92%, depending on the type of actigraph and application used in our study. Consistent improvements by lowering the quantization factor also indicates that a 3-bit encoding of actigraphy data retains most prominent movement information, and also results in an increase of the pattern recognition accuracy by at least 10%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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20 pages, 998 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards an Efficient One-Class Classifier for Mobile Devices and Wearable Sensors on the Context of Personal Risk Detection

by Luis A. Trejo and Ari Yair Barrera-Animas

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 2857; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18092857 - 30 Aug 2018

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2880

Abstract

In this work, we present a first step towards an efficient one-class classifier well suited for mobile devices to be implemented as part of a user application coupled with wearable sensors in the context of personal risk detection. We compared one-class Support Vector [...] Read more.

In this work, we present a first step towards an efficient one-class classifier well suited for mobile devices to be implemented as part of a user application coupled with wearable sensors in the context of personal risk detection. We compared one-class Support Vector Machine (ocSVM) and OCKRA (One-Class K-means with Randomly-projected features Algorithm). Both classifiers were tested using four versions of the publicly available PRIDE (Personal RIsk DEtection) dataset. The first version is the original PRIDE dataset, which is based only on time-domain features. We created a second version that is simply an extension of the original dataset with new attributes in the frequency domain. The other two datasets are a subset of these two versions, after a feature selection procedure based on a correlation matrix analysis followed by a Principal Component Analysis. All experiments were focused on the performance of the classifiers as well as on the execution time during the training and classification processes. Therefore, our goal in this work is twofold: we aim at reducing execution time but at the same time maintaining a good classification performance. Our results show that OCKRA achieved on average, 89.1% of Area Under the Curve (AUC) using the full set of features and 83.7% when trained using a subset of them. Furthermore, regarding execution time, OCKRA reports in the best case a 33.1% gain when using a subset of the feature vector, instead of the full set of features. These results are better than those reported by ocSVM, in which case, even though the AUCs are very close to each other, execution times are significantly higher in all cases, for example, more than 20 h versus less than an hour in the worst-case scenario. Having in mind the trade-off between classification performance and efficiency, our results support the choice of OCKRA as our best candidate so far for a mobile implementation where less processing and memory resources are at hand. OCKRA reports a very encouraging speed-up without sacrificing the classifier performance when using the PRIDE dataset based only on time-domain attributes after a feature selection procedure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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16 pages, 3335 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Artificial-Intelligence-Based Prediction of Clinical Events among Hemodialysis Patients Using Non-Contact Sensor Data

by Saurabh Singh Thakur, Shabbir Syed Abdul, Hsiao-Yean (Shannon) Chiu, Ram Babu Roy, Po-Yu Huang, Shwetambara Malwade, Aldilas Achmad Nursetyo and Yu-Chuan (Jack) Li

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 2833; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18092833 - 27 Aug 2018

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 7288

Abstract

Non-contact sensors are gaining popularity in clinical settings to monitor the vital parameters of patients. In this study, we used a non-contact sensor device to monitor vital parameters like the heart rate, respiration rate, and heart rate variability of hemodialysis (HD) patients for [...] Read more.

Non-contact sensors are gaining popularity in clinical settings to monitor the vital parameters of patients. In this study, we used a non-contact sensor device to monitor vital parameters like the heart rate, respiration rate, and heart rate variability of hemodialysis (HD) patients for a period of 23 weeks during their HD sessions. During these 23 weeks, a total number of 3237 HD sessions were observed. Out of 109 patients enrolled in the study, 78 patients reported clinical events such as muscle spasms, inpatient stays, emergency visits or even death during the study period. We analyzed the sensor data of these two groups of patients, namely an event and no-event group. We found a statistically significant difference in the heart rates, respiration rates, and some heart rate variability parameters among the two groups of patients when their means were compared using an independent sample t-test. We further developed a supervised machine-learning-based prediction model to predict event or no-event based on the sensor data and demographic information. A mean area under curve (ROC AUC) of 90.16% with 96.21% mean precision, and 88.47% mean recall was achieved. Our findings point towards the novel use of non-contact sensors in clinical settings to monitor the vital parameters of patients and the further development of early warning solutions using artificial intelligence (AI) for the prediction of clinical events. These models could assist healthcare professionals in taking decisions and designing better care plans for patients by early detecting changes to vital parameters. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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27 pages, 12620 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Activity Recognition Invariant to Wearable Sensor Unit Orientation Using Differential Rotational Transformations Represented by Quaternions

by Aras Yurtman, Billur Barshan and Barış Fidan

Sensors 2018, 18(8), 2725; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082725 - 19 Aug 2018

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5493

Abstract

Wearable motion sensors are assumed to be correctly positioned and oriented in most of the existing studies. However, generic wireless sensor units, patient health and state monitoring sensors, and smart phones and watches that contain sensors can be differently oriented on the body. [...] Read more.

Wearable motion sensors are assumed to be correctly positioned and oriented in most of the existing studies. However, generic wireless sensor units, patient health and state monitoring sensors, and smart phones and watches that contain sensors can be differently oriented on the body. The vast majority of the existing algorithms are not robust against placing the sensor units at variable orientations. We propose a method that transforms the recorded motion sensor sequences invariantly to sensor unit orientation. The method is based on estimating the sensor unit orientation and representing the sensor data with respect to the Earth frame. We also calculate the sensor rotations between consecutive time samples and represent them by quaternions in the Earth frame. We incorporate our method in the pre-processing stage of the standard activity recognition scheme and provide a comparative evaluation with the existing methods based on seven state-of-the-art classifiers and a publicly available dataset. The standard system with fixed sensor unit orientations cannot handle incorrectly oriented sensors, resulting in an average accuracy reduction of 31.8%. Our method results in an accuracy drop of only 4.7% on average compared to the standard system, outperforming the existing approaches that cause an accuracy degradation between 8.4 and 18.8%. We also consider stationary and non-stationary activities separately and evaluate the performance of each method for these two groups of activities. All of the methods perform significantly better in distinguishing non-stationary activities, our method resulting in an accuracy drop of 2.1% in this case. Our method clearly surpasses the remaining methods in classifying stationary activities where some of the methods noticeably fail. The proposed method is applicable to a wide range of wearable systems to make them robust against variable sensor unit orientations by transforming the sensor data at the pre-processing stage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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12 pages, 19991 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Detection of Talking in Respiratory Signals: A Feasibility Study Using Machine Learning and Wearable Textile-Based Sensors

by Andreas Ejupi and Carlo Menon

Sensors 2018, 18(8), 2474; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082474 - 31 Jul 2018

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4877

Abstract

Social isolation and loneliness are major health concerns in young and older people. Traditional approaches to monitor the level of social interaction rely on self-reports. The goal of this study was to investigate if wearable textile-based sensors can be used to accurately detect [...] Read more.

Social isolation and loneliness are major health concerns in young and older people. Traditional approaches to monitor the level of social interaction rely on self-reports. The goal of this study was to investigate if wearable textile-based sensors can be used to accurately detect if the user is talking as a future indicator of social interaction. In a laboratory study, fifteen healthy young participants were asked to talk while performing daily activities such as sitting, standing and walking. It is known that the breathing pattern differs significantly between normal and speech breathing (i.e., talking). We integrated resistive stretch sensors into wearable elastic bands, with a future integration into clothing in mind, to record the expansion and contraction of the chest and abdomen while breathing. We developed an algorithm incorporating machine learning and evaluated its performance in distinguishing between periods of talking and non-talking. In an intra-subject analysis, our algorithm detected talking with an average accuracy of 85%. The highest accuracy of 88% was achieved during sitting and the lowest accuracy of 80.6% during walking. Complete segments of talking were correctly identified with 96% accuracy. From the evaluated machine learning algorithms, the random forest classifier performed best on our dataset. We demonstrate that wearable textile-based sensors in combination with machine learning can be used to detect when the user is talking. In the future, this approach may be used as an indicator of social interaction to prevent social isolation and loneliness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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12 pages, 2820 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Complexity of Daily Physical Activity Is More Sensitive Than Conventional Metrics to Assess Functional Change in Younger Older Adults

by Wei Zhang, Michael Schwenk, Sabato Mellone, Anisoara Paraschiv-Ionescu, Beatrix Vereijken, Mirjam Pijnappels, A. Stefanie Mikolaizak, Elisabeth Boulton, Nini H. Jonkman, Andrea B. Maier, Jochen Klenk, Jorunn Helbostad, Kristin Taraldsen and Kamiar Aminian

Sensors 2018, 18(7), 2032; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18072032 - 25 Jun 2018

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4857

Abstract

The emerging mHealth applications, incorporating wearable sensors, enables continuous monitoring of physical activity (PA). This study aimed at analyzing the relevance of a multivariate complexity metric in assessment of functional change in younger older adults. Thirty individuals (60–70 years old) participated in a [...] Read more.

The emerging mHealth applications, incorporating wearable sensors, enables continuous monitoring of physical activity (PA). This study aimed at analyzing the relevance of a multivariate complexity metric in assessment of functional change in younger older adults. Thirty individuals (60–70 years old) participated in a 4-week home-based exercise intervention. The Community Balance and Mobility Scale (CBMS) was used for clinical assessment of the participants’ functional balance and mobility performance pre- and post- intervention. Accelerometers worn on the low back were used to register PA of one week before and in the third week of the intervention. Changes in conventional univariate PA metrics (percentage of walking and sedentary time, step counts, mean cadence) and complexity were compared to the change as measured by the CBMS. Statistical analyses (21 participants) showed significant rank correlation between the change as measured by complexity and CBMS (ρ = 0.47, p = 0.03). Smoothing the activity output improved the correlation (ρ = 0.58, p = 0.01). In contrast, change in univariate PA metrics did not show correlations. These findings demonstrate the high potential of the complexity metric being useful and more sensitive than conventional PA metrics for assessing functional changes in younger older adults. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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18 pages, 1265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wearable Sensors Integrated with Internet of Things for Advancing eHealth Care

by Jose-Luis Bayo-Monton, Antonio Martinez-Millana, Weisi Han, Carlos Fernandez-Llatas, Yan Sun and Vicente Traver

Sensors 2018, 18(6), 1851; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18061851 - 06 Jun 2018

Cited by 72 | Viewed by 8664

Abstract

Health and sociological indicators alert that life expectancy is increasing, hence so are the years that patients have to live with chronic diseases and co-morbidities. With the advancement in ICT, new tools and paradigms are been explored to provide effective and efficient health [...] Read more.

Health and sociological indicators alert that life expectancy is increasing, hence so are the years that patients have to live with chronic diseases and co-morbidities. With the advancement in ICT, new tools and paradigms are been explored to provide effective and efficient health care. Telemedicine and health sensors stand as indispensable tools for promoting patient engagement, self-management of diseases and assist doctors to remotely follow up patients. In this paper, we evaluate a rapid prototyping solution for information merging based on five health sensors and two low-cost ubiquitous computing components: Arduino and Raspberry Pi. Our study, which is entirely described with the purpose of reproducibility, aimed to evaluate the extent to which portable technologies are capable of integrating wearable sensors by comparing two deployment scenarios: Raspberry Pi 3 and Personal Computer. The integration is implemented using a choreography engine to transmit data from sensors to a display unit using web services and a simple communication protocol with two modes of data retrieval. Performance of the two set-ups is compared by means of the latency in the wearable data transmission and data loss. PC has a delay of 0.051 ± 0.0035 s (max = 0.2504 s), whereas the Raspberry Pi yields a delay of 0.0175 ± 0.149 s (max = 0.294 s) for N = 300. Our analysis confirms that portable devices (

p < < 0.01

) are suitable to support the transmission and analysis of biometric signals into scalable telemedicine systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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Review

Jump to: Editorial, Research

28 pages, 432 KiB

Open AccessReview

Methods for the Real-World Evaluation of Fall Detection Technology: A Scoping Review

by Robert W. Broadley, Jochen Klenk, Sibylle B. Thies, Laurence P. J. Kenney and Malcolm H. Granat

Sensors 2018, 18(7), 2060; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18072060 - 27 Jun 2018

Cited by 42 | Viewed by 7539

Abstract

Falls in older adults present a major growing healthcare challenge and reliable detection of falls is crucial to minimise their consequences. The majority of development and testing has used laboratory simulations. As simulations do not cover the wide range of real-world scenarios performance [...] Read more.

Falls in older adults present a major growing healthcare challenge and reliable detection of falls is crucial to minimise their consequences. The majority of development and testing has used laboratory simulations. As simulations do not cover the wide range of real-world scenarios performance is poor when retested using real-world data. There has been a move from the use of simulated falls towards the use of real-world data. This review aims to assess the current methods for real-world evaluation of fall detection systems, identify their limitations and propose improved robust methods of evaluation. Twenty-two articles met the inclusion criteria and were assessed with regard to the composition of the datasets, data processing methods and the measures of performance. Real-world tests of fall detection technology are inherently challenging and it is clear the field is in its infancy. Most studies used small datasets and studies differed on how to quantify the ability to avoid false alarms and how to identify non-falls, a concept which is virtually impossible to define and standardise. To increase robustness and make results comparable, larger standardised datasets are needed containing data from a range of participant groups. Measures that depend on the definition and identification of non-falls should be avoided. Sensitivity, precision and F-measure emerged as the most suitable robust measures for evaluating the real-world performance of fall detection systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Analytics and Applications of the Wearable Sensors in Healthcare)

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