Supporting Alzheimer’s Residential Care - A Novel Indoor Localization System

Abstract

This work illustrates a localization system specifically designed to be applied in "Il Paese Ritrovato", a highly innovative health-care facility for people affected by Alzheimer's disease in Monza, Italy. Patients are provided with an iBeacon bracelet broadcasting data packets that are collected through the use of a dense network of devices acting as receiving antennas. The system evaluates the path-loss of the received signal and corrects the computed position with a probabilistic approach to avoid wall-crossing. Localization data are merged with information from other IoT devices such as smart sensors, appliances and expert annotations; the resulting dataset will be extremely important to analyze behaviors, habits and social interactions among patients.

ICT-Based Solutions for Alzheimer’s Disease Care: A Systematic Review

“…Interestingly, among the selected papers, no contributions were found related to Wi-Fi, BLE, and mm-wave sensing technologies. Such radio signal technologies focus on designing positioning systems that revolve around wearable devices designed for person positioning detection [49], [63], [64] rather than the classical radio sensing systems we are currently discussing.…”

“…In this survey, we have identified significant contributions from a variety of sources that examine the use and progress of PAS for AD care. Notable studies include by [14], [62], [16], [63], [64] and [65]. Table 10 summarizes key aspects of these articles.…”

“…However, the findings indicated that the proposed wearable device yielded satisfactory localization error for tracking patients in indoor environments. Salice et al,in [64], Published in 2018, ensure the safety and well-being of Alzheimer's patients by tracking their position during daily activities and social interactions. The proposed methodology utilizes iBeacon technology, with iBeacon devices and Raspberry Pi 3 serving as the sensors/controllers.…”