Non-conventional INS/GNSS Integration for Qualitative Motion Analysis in Caregiving Applications

P. Molina, I. Colomina, M. Troger, B. Hofmann-Wellenhof, C. Aguilear

Abstract:	This paper will introduce and describe the goals, concept and overall approach of the European IEGLO project. IEGLO stands for ’Infrastructure Augmented Galileo/GNSS Receiver for Personal Mobility’ and it has been conducted by a consortium of technology companies and research centers. The goal of IEGLO was the development of a hand-held tracking device for elderly or Alzheimer disease people. The concept of IEGLO consists in a smartphone with special SW incorporating (A)GNSS, EGNOS/EDAS and infrastructure-based technologies (WLAN, RFID, GSM) for basic positioning, WLAN and GSM network links as communication channels and an accelerometer orthogonal triad for collapse and motion detection. Traditional navigation is about real-time positioning. In outdoor environments, navigation is provided by satellite navigation technology. In indoor applications, if one is ready to live along with lower accuracy and to use/deploy additional signal sources, navigation is feasible. However, in the context of personal navigation for elderly, handicapped people and many other groups, not only ubiquitous quantitative navigation -the where- is of interest but also qualitative navigation -the how- is relevant. In order to know the where-and-how, in addition to the indoor and outdoor navigation subsystems, a Kinesic Behaviour Detection (KBD) subsystem has been developed in the IEGLO project frame. More specifically, the KBD subsystem is implemented on a smartphone and allows for qualitative motion analysis (QMA) allowing detection of balance loss of a monitored Patient, providing a high-level of usability since there are no constraints on the device placement; the monitored person has just to carry his/her smartphone as usual, on the pocket or elsewhere. The paper identifies the technical challenges, from seamless indoor/outdoor navigation to QMA of the monitored patient. Seamless navigation is achieved by fusing indoor and outdoor positioning technologies in the context of caregiving to elderly people. Finally, this paper will show some results obtained in the IEGLO project, not only in the positioning task, but in the distress situation detection and the QMA. Results will show that the KBD techniques implemented in IEGLO offer an almost 0%-false alarm system for automatic collapse alarm generation. Moreover, walking detection is performed at a high-confidence level, enabling to monitore the person in quantitative and qualitative navigation terms.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2010) September 21 - 24, 2010 Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon Portland, OR
Pages:	542 - 555
Cite this article:	Molina, P., Colomina, I., Troger, M., Hofmann-Wellenhof, B., Aguilear, C., "Non-conventional INS/GNSS Integration for Qualitative Motion Analysis in Caregiving Applications," Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2010), Portland, OR, September 2010, pp. 542-555.
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