Fusion of measurement data from impulse-radar sensors and depth sensors when applied for patients monitoring

Abstract

The research reported in this paper is related to the fusion of measurement data from the impulse-radar sensors and infrared depth sensors, i.e. significantly different sensors that may be employed for unobtrusive monitoring of elderly and disabled persons. The performance of monitoring systems, based on both types of sensors - when used separately and when used in combination - has been compared in a series of experiments which involved the tracking of a moving person. The results have shown that the combined use of sensors, followed by the adequate fusion of measurement data, alleviates the problems occurring if only single-type sensors are used for monitoring, viz. the bias and dispersion of the estimates decreases and the blind spots in the monitored area disappear. Since the sequence of the position estimates can be used for derivation of many healthcare-related parameters, e.g. mean walking velocity, the application of data fusion may considerably increase the reliability of the unobtrusive monitoring of elderly and disabled persons.