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Help Us Put the IoT in Innovation: Part 1, Workflow

Calling all InnOvaTors!

 

imageWe want to push the boundaries of forward-looking, connected applications by engaging the IoT innovators through conceptual challenges. The insights you deliver will fuel conversations and drive change when we take them to suppliers and major industry players in the electronics world at this year's Elektronica show.

 

So to launch this new InnOvaTors initiative, our very own has cooked up a real-world scenario that would benefit massively from an innovative IoT solution that we'd like you to conceptualise.

 

Your opinions and ideas on the subject are important, as we want these concepts to inform the next generation of IoT development and (perhaps more importantly), adoption.

 

Let's take a look at Randy's scenario before we go any further.

 

Design a Home Patient Monitoring System with Notification and Alert Capabilities

Background

Among the numerous types of innovations that are expected to be fostered by Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, smart-connected healthcare solutions will perhaps be the most important one for millions of elderly people who live alone. In the UK 3.5 million people over the age of 65 live alone, and almost 70% of the women in this age group. The U.S has a similar trend with 11.8 million, and nearly half of the women over the age of 75 living alone.

 

This number is expected to increase as the growth in people over age 65 is projected to double from 43.1 million in 2012 to 83.7 million in 2050, according to the U.S Census Bureau. Whether an elderly person lives alone by choice or necessity, this living arrangement can pose a potential health risk as physical and cognitive impairment becomes evident.

Your Challenge: Helping a Stroke Patient Who Falls

A typical example of the challenge that the elderly face while living alone is Mrs. Jones. She is 79 years-old and has been living alone successfully for ten years since her husband passed away. While she has not had any problems during this period of time, Mrs. Jones recently suffered a minor stroke that led to numbness in her extremities and an overall weakness in strength but did not appear to be life-changing until she began losing her balance and falling in her apartment

 

Mrs. Jones’s daughter suggested to her mother that it was time to consider moving into a nursing home for safety’s sake. Mrs. Jones dismissed the idea out of a desire to remain independent. Her daughter discussed this situation with Mrs. Jones's doctor who said her options were limited. Beyond a live-in caregiver, home nurse visits, or home monitoring systems, which had limited benefits as they are currently designed, there was little else to do.

 

 

The InnOvaTors Approach to IoT

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How would you solve the problem above through creative and innovative IoT design?

 

It seems to us that a complete IoT solution is built upon the support of three component pillars; the nodes/sensors, the gateway and the cloud. But before we delve into specific applications of the Three Legs of IoT (which we'll do in more detail over the next couple of weeks), the workflow process of IoT design seems like it warrants inspection.

 

What's your advice on designing an Internet of Things?

Do you have an established, unified workflow, or does each application demand its own unique approach?

 

In the comments section below, we'd like to hear your thoughts and advice on how to plan an IoT solution. Don't worry too much about the technical specifics of each element just yet; what's needed here is the initial workflow that'll help to shape a robust and innovative solution further down the line. An IoT bible, if you like, that you can confidently refer to when things get chaotic, confusing or fly off on a tangent.

 

Tell us where the industry can improve its efforts, where the gaps are in off-the-shelf solutions, and what your design methods are that will bolster and boost the expanding world of IoT application.

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Parents

  • Hi!

    What a great idea, to have an IoT guide type document..

    Here are some initial thoughts, I've probably missed loads but this was just the stuff I could immediately think of.

     

    Probably I'd want to intimately get to know what information is valuable (e.g. is it valuable to know someone has fallen over, or more valuable to know that someone's movements are becoming more erratic to the point they may fall over?), and to whom the information is vaulable (to a relative, or a doctor, or a neighbour who is away on vacation, or the neighbour's key-holder while they are on vacation?). Basically determine the overall goal in detail and determine the actual information or results that would be needed to make this a success.

     

    I'd want to do tons of research, into any existing solutions, and their strengths/weaknesses.

     

    Also, I'd want to start trying to figure out ways to extract information from already engineered solutions or systems (e.g. sensor manufacturers may already have case studies or reference designs showing more than just how to connect to a sensor, but example sensor conditioning and algorithms too). It would be nice to see example captured outputs, either example data files or recommended set-ups/test gear to capture data, along with recommended eval boards etc.

     

    Also, I'd probably start wanting to consider information in general, i.e how fast is it needed to be useful, how and where it could be processed and stored, who it should be available to, and how secure it needs to be (not all information needs to be as secure as other pieces of information).

     

    I'd want to know what current state-of-the-art is in each field, e.g. sensor technology, battery tech, wireless regulations, M2M standards, etc.

     

    I'd also want to research what standards are relevant, for compliance and those that could help me. For example, recommendations and standards for medical monitoring devices that could be used or should be used. I'd probably want to talk to doctors and to drug companies, to find out what metrics could be useful, e.g. are there symptoms I should be monitoring? And parameters that should be monitored directly (e.g. pulse) or indirectly (e.g. general movement). And find ways to extract detail from patients themselves/behaviour experts/nurses to examine what is practical and what isn't.

     

    Through all the above process I'd hope to come up to some list of design requirements that are not abstract any more.

     

    Also, given that not everything may be possible on day 1, I'd want to prioritize and also start considering how the initial solution could be expanded in future, e.g. to cope with other conditions beyond a stroke. Would it benefit from additional hardware functionality (e.g. use a multi-sensor component?) that could be enabled at a later date with a firmware upgrade? Would it make sense to have more compute power to handle future requirements?

     

    In general I think some parts of industry are taking the IoT challenge on-board very well. I like that we're gradually seeing new test gear that crosses multiple disciplines (as do IoT solutions). I'd like to see more detailed vertical-specific information from component manufacturers, so that I can immediately see what parts get used in existing offerings (if they can share that information). Not all manufacturers make it easy though, and sometimes it is hard to know what connectors, switches and LEDs are ideal for (say) home/consumer/elderly persons use, and which ones will be available for a long time. Some manufacturers are great at it though.

  • in reply to shabaz

    You make some great points that were not specified in the scenario.

     

    But understanding the value and the stakeholders is a starting point.

     

    You talked about value. Is the information to be gathered as an after-the-fact alert that someone has fallen (reactive), or is the value or goal to be predictive (proactive). In other words, are the sum total of the person's movements suggesting a fall is possible. While one could say the system could do both, on a human level, I'd go for predictive given my family's experience. Being predictive would probably make the design more complex, but even in an apartment, an elderly person who falls could hit her head on the sharp edge of a piece of furniture and make the fall worse.

     

    It seems to me there are a couple of stakeholders who would want to know this person's condition: family member, direct caregiver, (possibly a neighbor), paramedic and doctor. I'm not sure I can answer this fully, but since it has happened in my family, I'd say paramedics and direct caregiver are the most important in order to get the person out of danger immediately.

     

    I didn't do a lot of research about what existing systems are available. But from my experience, they are either manually activated by the patient or they require the patient to wear a pendant and call out for help; the pendant transmits the call for help to a dispatching service who then calls the caregiver and/or the family. Not a great system.

     

    What my family would have liked is something that monitored her movements and if they were out of the ordinary or erratic, we would have been alerted before something happened. A check-in call with the patient would have helped.

Comment
  • in reply to shabaz

    You make some great points that were not specified in the scenario.

     

    But understanding the value and the stakeholders is a starting point.

     

    You talked about value. Is the information to be gathered as an after-the-fact alert that someone has fallen (reactive), or is the value or goal to be predictive (proactive). In other words, are the sum total of the person's movements suggesting a fall is possible. While one could say the system could do both, on a human level, I'd go for predictive given my family's experience. Being predictive would probably make the design more complex, but even in an apartment, an elderly person who falls could hit her head on the sharp edge of a piece of furniture and make the fall worse.

     

    It seems to me there are a couple of stakeholders who would want to know this person's condition: family member, direct caregiver, (possibly a neighbor), paramedic and doctor. I'm not sure I can answer this fully, but since it has happened in my family, I'd say paramedics and direct caregiver are the most important in order to get the person out of danger immediately.

     

    I didn't do a lot of research about what existing systems are available. But from my experience, they are either manually activated by the patient or they require the patient to wear a pendant and call out for help; the pendant transmits the call for help to a dispatching service who then calls the caregiver and/or the family. Not a great system.

     

    What my family would have liked is something that monitored her movements and if they were out of the ordinary or erratic, we would have been alerted before something happened. A check-in call with the patient would have helped.

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