Магнитометрия, акустические и инерциальные технологии локального позиционирования в здравоохранении

Introduction. The problem of localization of moving objects inside buildings becomes more urgent in healthcare. Tracking the movements of patients in real time allows one to provide them with timely medical support in case of sharp deterioration in their vital signs. It is especially important to track the location of patients undergoing a surgery, since the risk of death due to postoperative complications for them is extremely high. Using indoor-positioning technologies in telemedicine systems can solve the problem, thereby reducing the mortality rate of patients and improving the quality of medical care.Aim. To study the applicability of magnetometry, inertial and acoustic technologies for patient’s localization in a hospital.Materials and methods. The analysis of domestic and foreign scientific sources devoted to indoor-positioning based on the above technologies was carried out. Material published not earlier than 2016, was chosen for the analysis. Most of the papers were published in journals with impact-factor not lower than 3.Results. After analyzing the information received, it was concluded that none of the technologies can be used independently. Inertial sensors possess high accuracy, but over time, the measurement error increases. There-fore, the sensors need to regular correction. Indoor-positioning based on geomagnetism is hampered by interference that can be induced by the operation of magnetic resonance imaging scanners and X-ray equipment, which are usually used in medical facilities. Active magnetometry does not allow to keep track of moving objects due to specific of hardware used. Ultrasound-based positioning can be complicated by ultrasonography apparatuses interference. Using an audible sound creates noise pollution and exerts a negative impact on patient’s health. Also, acoustic technologies are unable to provide a secure communication channel for data exchange.Conclusion. It is recommended to combine the reviewed positioning technologies with other technologies in order to correct the indicated disadvantages.Введение. Определение местоположения подвижных объектов в закрытых помещениях обретает все большую актуальность в сфере здравоохранения. Слежение за перемещениями пациентов в режиме реального времени позволяет оказывать им своевременную медицинскую помощь при резком ухудшении жизненных показателей. Особенно важно отслеживать местоположение пациентов, перенесших хирургические вмешательства, так как риск наступления смерти вследствие возникновения послеоперационных осложнений для них крайне высок. Применение технологий локального позиционирования в составе телемедицинских систем позволяет решить указанную проблему, тем самым снизив уровень смертности пациентов и повысив качество медицинского обслуживания.Цель работы. Изучение применимости магнитометрии, инерциальных и акустических технологий для локализации пациента в здании клиники.Материалы и методы. Проведен анализ отечественных и зарубежных научных источников, посвященных локальному позиционированию на базе перечисленных технологий. Включенные в обзор работы опубликованы не ранее 2016 г. Большинство из них представлено в журналах с impact-фактором не ниже 3.Результаты. В результате анализа сделан вывод о том, что ни одна из рассмотренных технологий не может использоваться самостоятельно. Инерциальные датчики обладают высокой точностью, но со временем погрешность измерений возрастает, поэтому они нуждаются в постоянной корректировке. Позиционирование на базе геомагнитного поля затрудняется помехами, вызываемыми работой аппаратов магнитно-резонансной томографии и рентгеновскими установками, повсеместно использующимися в медицинских учреждениях. Активная магнитометрия также имеет ряд недостатков, затрудняющих локальное позиционирование. Позиционирование на базе ультразвука может осложняться помехами, возникающими в результате работы аппаратов УЗИ. Использование слышимого звука создает шумовое загрязнение и негативно влияет на здоровье пациентов. Помимо этого акустические технологии не способны обеспечить безопасный канал связи для обмена данными.Заключение. Рекомендовано комбинировать рассмотренные технологии позиционирования с другими технологиями в целях устранения обозначенных недостатков

Real-Time Gait Analysis Using a Single Head-Worn Inertial Measurement Unit

The background of this paper is to apply advanced real-time gait analysis to walking interventions in daily life setting. A vast of wearable devices provide gait information but not more than pedometer functions such as step counting, displacement, and velocity. This paper suggests a real-time gait analysis method based on a head-worn inertial measurement unit. A novel analysis method implements real-time detection of gait events (heel strike, toe off, and mid-stance phase) and immediately provides detailed spatiotemporal parameters. The reliability of this method was proven by a measurement with over 11 000 steps from seven participants on a 400-m outdoor track. The advanced gait analysis was conducted without any limitation of a fixed reference frame (e.g., indoor stage and infrared cameras). The mean absolute error in step-counting was 0.24%. Compared to a pedometer, additional gait parameters were obtained such as foot-ground contact time (CT) and CT ratio. The gait monitoring system can be used as real-time and long-term feedback, which is applicable in the management of the health status and on injury prevention. © 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.European Commission/H2020-FETPROACT-2014/641321/E

Analysis of AGV indoor tracking supported by IMU sensors in intra-logistics process in automotive industry

The Industry 4.0 is a new revolution that is introducing a paradigm shift in the in dustry. Automation, decentralization and modulation are concepts that are becoming significantly more relevant, leading to a transformation in the industry. Namely, within the motor industry, the increase in the use of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) is essential for there to be a bigger efficiency in intralogistics processes, since they allow automation in the transport of essential materials for this process, providing a better quality of service. However, some AGVs do not have sensory capabilities that are capable of providing data, in real time, regarding their status, thus making it impossible to apply the concept of industry 4.0, meaning, a connected factory, in these phases. Even though these AGVs do not possess said capabilities, which enable a constant monitoring, like their positioning, it is necessary to find solutions that would allow the data from them to be acquired for the monitoring, without being necessary an investment in more advanced AGVs. The proposed solution under this thesis, as an objective, is a contribution to the development of an AGV fleet manager, where it will be possible to monitor the entire process regarding the transport of batteries, between the sequencing zone, where the batteries are arranged and catalogued, and the assembly line, called point-of-fit, from providing a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the entire process, as well as the detection of failures / anomalies that may occur during the same. This solution will bring a greater capacity for optimization and efficiency for the entire process, improving aspects related to automotive production. All this work is part of the European project BOOST 4.0, which was validated at Volkswagen Autoeuropa.A indústria 4.0 consiste numa nova revolução que está a introduzir uma mudança de paradigma na indústria. A automação, a descentralização e a modulação são conceitos que se estão a tornar significativamente mais relevantes, originando uma transformação na indústria. Nomeadamente, dentro da indústria automóvel, o incremento da utilização de Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) é essencial para que haja uma maior eficiência nos processos intra-logísticos, uma vez que eles permitem a automação no transporte de materiais essenciais para esse processo, criando assim uma maior qualidade de serviço. No entanto, alguns AGVs não possuem capacidades sensoriais que sejam capazes de fornecer dados, em tempo-real, referentes ao estado dos mesmos, impossibilitando assim a aplicação do conceito de indústria 4.0, isto é, uma fábrica conectada, nestas fases. Ape sar de certos AGVs não possuírem estas capacidades, que permitem uma monotorização constante dos mesmos, como a sua localização, é necessário arranjar soluções que possi bilitam então adquirir estes mesmo dados para efeitos de monotorização, sem que seja necessário investir em AGVs mais avançados. A solução proposta no âmbito desta tese, tem como objectivo, é uma contribuição para o desenvolvimento de um gestor de frota de AGVs, onde será possível acompanhar todo o processo referente ao transporte de baterias entre a zona de sequenciação, onde as baterias são ordenadas e catalogadas, e a linha de montagem, chamada de point-of fit, desde o fornecimento de uma análise quantitativa e qualitativa de todo o processo, bem como a detecção de falhas/anomalias que possam ocorrer durante o mesmo. Esta solução irá trazer uma maior capacidade de optimização e eficiência para todo o processo, melhorando os aspectos referentes à produção automóvel. Todo este trabalho insere-se no âmbito do projeto Europeu BOOST 4.0, e que foi validado na Volkswagen Autoeuropa

Analysis and enhancement of interpersonal coordination using inertial measurement unit solutions

Die heutigen mobilen Kommunikationstechnologien haben den Umfang der verbalen und textbasierten Kommunikation mit anderen Menschen, sozialen Robotern und künstlicher Intelligenz erhöht. Auf der anderen Seite reduzieren diese Technologien die nonverbale und die direkte persönliche Kommunikation, was zu einer gesellschaftlichen Thematik geworden ist, weil die Verringerung der direkten persönlichen Interaktionen eine angemessene Wahrnehmung sozialer und umgebungsbedingter Reizmuster erschweren und die Entwicklung allgemeiner sozialer Fähigkeiten bremsen könnte. Wissenschaftler haben aktuell die Bedeutung nonverbaler zwischenmenschlicher Aktivitäten als soziale Fähigkeiten untersucht, indem sie menschliche Verhaltensmuster in Zusammenhang mit den jeweilgen neurophysiologischen Aktivierungsmustern analzsiert haben. Solche Querschnittsansätze werden auch im Forschungsprojekt der Europäischen Union "Socializing sensori-motor contingencies" (socSMCs) verfolgt, das darauf abzielt, die Leistungsfähigkeit sozialer Roboter zu verbessern und Autismus-Spektrumsstörungen (ASD) adäquat zu behandeln. In diesem Zusammenhang ist die Modellierung und das Benchmarking des Sozialverhaltens gesunder Menschen eine Grundlage für theorieorientierte und experimentelle Studien zum weiterführenden Verständnis und zur Unterstützung interpersoneller Koordination. In diesem Zusammenhang wurden zwei verschiedene empirische Kategorien in Abhängigkeit von der Entfernung der Interagierenden zueinander vorgeschlagen: distale vs. proximale Interaktionssettings, da sich die Struktur der beteiligten kognitiven Systeme zwischen den Kategorien ändert und sich die Ebene der erwachsenden socSMCs verschiebt. Da diese Dissertation im Rahmen des socSMCs-Projekts entstanden ist, wurden Interaktionssettings für beide Kategorien (distal und proximal) entwickelt. Zudem wurden Ein-Sensor-Lösungen zur Reduzierung des Messaufwands (und auch der Kosten) entwickelt, um eine Messung ausgesuchter Verhaltensparameter bei einer Vielzahl von Menschen und sozialen Interaktionen zu ermöglichen. Zunächst wurden Algorithmen für eine kopfgetragene Trägheitsmesseinheit (H-IMU) zur Messung der menschlichen Kinematik als eine Ein-Sensor-Lösung entwickelt. Die Ergebnisse bestätigten, dass die H-IMU die eigenen Gangparameter unabhängig voneinander allein auf Basis der Kopfkinematik messen kann. Zweitens wurden—als ein distales socSMC-Setting—die interpersonellen Kopplungen mit einem Bezug auf drei interagierende Merkmale von „Übereinstimmung“ (engl.: rapport) behandelt: Positivität, gegenseitige Aufmerksamkeit und Koordination. Die H-IMUs überwachten bestimmte soziale Verhaltensereignisse, die sich auf die Kinematik der Kopforientierung und Oszillation während des Gehens und Sprechens stützen, so dass der Grad der Übereinstimmung geschätzt werden konnte. Schließlich belegten die Ergebnisse einer experimentellen Studie, die zu einer kollaborativen Aufgabe mit der entwickelten IMU-basierten Tablet-Anwendung durchgeführt wurde, unterschiedliche Wirkungen verschiedener audio-motorischer Feedbackformen für eine Unterstützung der interpersonellen Koordination in der Kategorie proximaler sensomotorischer Kontingenzen. Diese Dissertation hat einen intensiven interdisziplinären Charakter: Technologische Anforderungen in den Bereichen der Sensortechnologie und der Softwareentwicklung mussten in direktem Bezug auf vordefinierte verhaltenswissenschaftliche Fragestellungen entwickelt und angewendet bzw. gelöst werden—und dies in zwei unterschiedlichen Domänen (distal, proximal). Der gegebene Bezugsrahmen wurde als eine große Herausforderung bei der Entwicklung der beschriebenen Methoden und Settings wahrgenommen. Die vorgeschlagenen IMU-basierten Lösungen könnten dank der weit verbreiteten IMU-basierten mobilen Geräte zukünftig in verschiedene Anwendungen perspektiv reich integriert werden.Today’s mobile communication technologies have increased verbal and text-based communication with other humans, social robots and intelligent virtual assistants. On the other hand, the technologies reduce face-to-face communication. This social issue is critical because decreasing direct interactions may cause difficulty in reading social and environmental cues, thereby impeding the development of overall social skills. Recently, scientists have studied the importance of nonverbal interpersonal activities to social skills, by measuring human behavioral and neurophysiological patterns. These interdisciplinary approaches are in line with the European Union research project, “Socializing sensorimotor contingencies” (socSMCs), which aims to improve the capability of social robots and properly deal with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Therefore, modelling and benchmarking healthy humans’ social behavior are fundamental to establish a foundation for research on emergence and enhancement of interpersonal coordination. In this research project, two different experimental settings were categorized depending on interactants’ distance: distal and proximal settings, where the structure of engaged cognitive systems changes, and the level of socSMCs differs. As a part of the project, this dissertation work referred to this spatial framework. Additionally, single-sensor solutions were developed to reduce costs and efforts in measuring human behaviors, recognizing the social behaviors, and enhancing interpersonal coordination. First of all, algorithms using a head worn inertial measurement unit (H-IMU) were developed to measure human kinematics, as a baseline for social behaviors. The results confirmed that the H-IMU can measure individual gait parameters by analyzing only head kinematics. Secondly, as a distal sensorimotor contingency, interpersonal relationship was considered with respect to a dynamic structure of three interacting components: positivity, mutual attentiveness, and coordination. The H-IMUs monitored the social behavioral events relying on kinematics of the head orientation and oscillation during walk and talk, which can contribute to estimate the level of rapport. Finally, in a new collaborative task with the proposed IMU-based tablet application, results verified effects of different auditory-motor feedbacks on the enhancement of interpersonal coordination in a proximal setting. This dissertation has an intensive interdisciplinary character: Technological development, in the areas of sensor and software engineering, was required to apply to or solve issues in direct relation to predefined behavioral scientific questions in two different settings (distal and proximal). The given frame served as a reference in the development of the methods and settings in this dissertation. The proposed IMU-based solutions are also promising for various future applications due to widespread wearable devices with IMUs.European Commission/HORIZON2020-FETPROACT-2014/641321/E

Indoor positioning and tracking based on the received signal strength

Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)-based indoor Location and Tracking (L&T) is a promising and challenging technology that enables mobile users/nodes to obtain their location information. This dissertation focuses on overcoming the challenges as well as improving the positioning accuracy for the RSSI-based L&T. In particular, the author considers 4 L&T solutions. In the first, the author develops a L&T solution by designing the Kalman Filter (KF) to work linearly within the positioning framework. To elaborate on this implementation, the equations of the KF are presented in a consistent manner with the implementation. In the second, the author designs a L&T solution based on the Iterated Extended Kalman Filter (IEKF) to improve the accuracy compared with the popular Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). In the third, the author overcomes the particular implementation challenges of the EKF by designing a L&T solution based on the implementation of the Scaled Unscented Transformation (SUT) to the KF. The author calls the resulting filter Scaled Unscented Kalman Filter (SUKF). In the forth, the author overcomes the implementation difficulties of the EKF by designing a L&T solution based on the implementation of the Spherical Simplex Unscented Transformation (SSUT) to the KF. The author calls the resulting filter the Spherical Simplex Unscented Kalman Filter (SSUKF). The proposed solutions with their corresponding achievements enhance the role of RSSI-based L&T in wireless positioning systems. The contributions led to significant improvement in the positioning accuracy, reliability and the ease of implementation

Indoor Localisation of Scooters from Ubiquitous Cost-Effective Sensors: Combining Wi-Fi, Smartphone and Wheel Encoders

Indoor localisation of people and objects has been a focus of research studies for several decades because of its great advantage to several applications. Accuracy has always been a challenge because of the uncertainty of the employed sensors. Several technologies have been proposed and researched, however, accuracy still represents an issue. Today, several sensor technologies can be found in indoor environments, some of which are economical and powerful, such as Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, Smartphones are typically present indoors because of the people that carry them along, while moving about within rooms and buildings. Furthermore, vehicles such as mobility scooters can also be present indoor to support people with mobility impairments, which may be equipped with low-cost sensors, such as wheel encoders. This thesis investigates the localisation of mobility scooters operating indoor. This represents a specific topic as most of today's indoor localisation systems are for pedestrians. Furthermore, accurate indoor localisation of those scooters is challenging because of the type of motion and specific behaviour. The thesis focuses on improving localisation accuracy for mobility scooters and on the use of already available indoor sensors. It proposes a combined use of Wi-Fi, Smartphone IMU and wheel encoders, which represents a cost-effective energy-efficient solution. A method has been devised and a system has been developed, which has been experimented on different environment settings. The outcome of the experiments are presented and carefully analysed in the thesis. The outcome of several trials demonstrates the potential of the proposed solutions in reducing positional errors significantly when compared to the state-of-the-art in the same area. The proposed combination demonstrated an error range of 0.35m - 1.35m, which can be acceptable in several applications, such as some related to assisted living. 3 As the proposed system capitalizes on the use of ubiquitous technologies, it opens up to a potential quick take up from the market, therefore being of great benefit for the target audience

Design and Development of Biofeedback Stick Technology (BfT) to Improve the Quality of Life of Walking Stick Users

Biomedical engineering has seen a rapid growth in recent times, where the aim to facilitate and equip humans with the latest technology has become widespread globally. From high-tech equipment ranging from CT scanners, MRI equipment, and laser treatments, to the design, creation, and implementation of artificial body parts, the field of biomedical engineering has significantly contributed to mankind. Biomedical engineering has facilitated many of the latest developments surrounding human mobility, with advancement in mobility aids improving human movement for people with compromised mobility either caused by an injury or health condition. A review of the literature indicated that mobility aids, especially walking sticks, and appropriate training for their use, are generally prescribed by allied health professionals (AHP) to walking stick users for rehabilitation and activities of daily living (ADL). However, feedback from AHP is limited to the clinical environment, leaving walking stick users vulnerable to falls and injuries due to incorrect usage. Hence, to mitigate the risk of falls and injuries, and to facilitate a routine appraisal of individual patient’s usage, a simple, portable, robust, and reliable tool was developed which provides the walking stick users with real-time feedback upon incorrect usage during their activities of daily living (ADL). This thesis aimed to design and develop a smart walking stick technology: Biofeedback stick technology (BfT). The design incorporates the approach of patient and public involvement (PPI) in the development of BfT to ensure that BfT was developed as per the requirements of walking stick users and AHP recommendations. The newly developed system was tested quantitatively for; validity, reliability, and reproducibility against gold standard equipment such as the 3D motion capture system, force plates, optical measurement system for orientation, weight bearing, and step count. The system was also tested qualitatively for its usability by conducting semi-informal interviews with AHPs and walking stick users. The results of these studies showed that the newly developed system has good accuracy, reported above 95% with a maximum inaccuracy of 1°. The data reported indicates good reproducibility. The angles, weight, and steps recorded by the system during experiments are within the values published in the literature. From these studies, it was concluded that, BfT has the potential to improve the lives of walking stick users and that, with few additional improvements, appropriate approval from relevant regulatory bodies, and robust clinical testing, the technology has a huge potential to carve its way to a commercial market