Telehealth Applications Research Articles

An evaluation of telehealth expansion in U.S. nursing homes.

This research brief contains results from a national survey about telehealth use reported in a random sample of U.S. nursing homes. The sample includes nursing homes (N = 664) that completed surveys about information technology maturity, including telehealth use, beginning January 1, 2019, and ending August 4, 2020. A pre/post design was employed to examine differences in nursing home telehealth use for nursing homes completing surveys prior to and after telehealth expansion, on March 6, 2020. We calculated a cumulative telehealth score using survey data from 6 questions about extent of nursing home telehealth use (score range 0-42). We calculated proportions of nursing homes using telehealth and used logistic regression to look for differences in nursing homes based on organizational characteristics and odds ratios. Significant relationships were found between nursing home characteristics and telehealth use, and specifically, larger metropolitan homes reported greater telehealth use. Ownership had little effect on telehealth use. Nursing homes postexpansion used telehealth applications for resident evaluation 11.24 times more (P < .01) thandid nursing homes pre-expansion. Administrators completing our survey reported a wide range of telehealth use, including approximately 16% having no telehealth use and 5% having the maximum amount of telehealth use. Mean telehealth use scores reported by the majority of these nursing homes is on the lower end of the range. One solution for the current pandemic is to encourage the proliferation of telehealth with continued relaxed regulations, which can reduce isolation and preserve limited resources (eg, personal protective equipment) while maintaining proper distancing parameters.

Designing Futuristic Telemedicine Using Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in the COVID-19 Era.

Technological innovations such as artificial intelligence and robotics may be of potential use in telemedicine and in building capacity to respond to future pandemics beyond the current COVID-19 era. Our international consortium of interdisciplinary experts in clinical medicine, health policy, and telemedicine have identified gaps in uptake and implementation of telemedicine or telehealth across geographics and medical specialties. This paper discusses various artificial intelligence and robotics-assisted telemedicine or telehealth applications during COVID-19 and presents an alternative artificial intelligence assisted telemedicine framework to accelerate the rapid deployment of telemedicine and improve access to quality and cost-effective healthcare. We postulate that the artificial intelligence assisted telemedicine framework would be indispensable in creating futuristic and resilient health systems that can support communities amidst pandemics.

Current Trends in Telehealth Applications to Deliver Social Communication Interventions for Young Children with or at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Purpose of ReviewEarly, intensive, and high-quality interventions can often improve social communication outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Many children experience barriers to intervention, resulting in significant delays to intervention onset or missed opportunities for intervention altogether. With constant advances in technology, the field is experiencing a rapid increase in investigation of telehealth applications to intervention delivery. This article highlights the current trends in social communication intervention via telehealth used in early intervention practices for children with ASD over the past 5 years, including a brief review of studies (from 2014 to January 2020) and our team’s experiences in this area.Recent FindingsBased on our experience and the 22 studies we identified in this area, we describe the current trends in telehealth applications used and how interventions were delivered. We also provide recommendations, limitations, and future directions on this topic.SummaryTelehealth offers innovative intervention delivery options by increasing intervention access, overcoming barriers such as geography and costs of service delivery for young children with ASD.

Using the technology acceptance model to explore health provider and administrator perceptions of the usefulness and ease of using technology in palliative care

BackgroundStudies have shown that telehealth applications in palliative care are feasible, can improve quality of care, and reduce costs but few studies have focused on user acceptance of current technology applications in palliative care. Furthermore, the perspectives of health administrators have not been explored in palliative care and yet they are often heavily involved, alongside providers, in the coordination and use of health technologies. The study aim was to explore both health care provider and administrator perceptions regarding the usefulness and ease of using technology in palliative care.MethodsThe Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as the guiding theoretical framework to provide insight into two key determinants that influence user acceptance of technology (perceived usefulness and ease of use). Semi-structured interviews (n = 18) with health providers and administrators with experience coordinating or using technology in palliative care explored the usefulness of technologies in palliative care and recommendations to support adoption. Interview data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis to identify common, meaningful themes.ResultsFour themes were identified; themes related to perceived usefulness were: enabling remote connection and information-sharing platform. Themes surrounding ease of use included: integration with existing IT systems and user-friendly with ready access to technical support. Telehealth can enable remote connection between patients and providers to help address insufficiencies in the current palliative care environment. Telehealth, as an information sharing platform, could support the coordination and collaboration of interdisciplinary providers caring for patients with palliative needs. However, health technologies need to passively integrate with existing IT systems to enhance providers’ workflow and productivity. User-friendliness with ready access to technical support was considered especially important in palliative care as patients often experience diminished function.ConclusionParticipants’ perspectives of technology acceptance in palliative care were largely dependent on their potential to help address major challenges in the field without imposing significant burden on providers and patients.

The “New” PTAs—Practical Telehealth Applications

The “New” PTAs—Practical Telehealth Applications

The Technological Impact of COVID-19 on the Future of Education and Health Care Delivery

Background: The unexpected COVID-19 crisis has disrupted medical education and patient care in unprecedented ways. Despite the challenges, the health-care system and patients have been both creative and resilient in finding robust “temporary” solutions to these challenges. It is not clear if some of these COVID-era transitional steps will be preserved in the future of medical education and telemedicine. Objectives: The goal of this commentary is to address the sometimes substantial changes in medical education, continuing medical education (CME) activities, residency and fellowship programs, specialty society meetings, and telemedicine, and to consider the value of some of these profound shifts to “business as usual” in the health-care sector. Methods: This is a commentary is based on the limited available literature, online information, and the front-line experiences of the authors. Results: COVID-19 has clearly changed residency and fellowship programs by limiting the amount of hands-on time physicians could spend with patients. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medicine Education has endorsed certain policy changes to promote greater flexibility in programs but still rigorously upholds specific standards. Technological interventions such as telemedicine visits with patients, virtual meetings with colleagues, and online interviews have been introduced, and many trainees are “technoomnivores” who are comfortable using a variety of technology platforms and techniques. Webinars and e-learning are gaining traction now, and their use, practicality, and cost-effectiveness may make them important in the post-COVID era. CME activities have migrated increasingly to virtual events and online programs, a trend that may also continue due to its practicality and cost-effectiveness. While many medical meetings of specialty societies have been postponed or cancelled altogether, technology allows for virtual meetings that may offer versatility and time-saving opportunities for busy clinicians. It may be that future medical meetings embrace a hybrid approach of blending digital with face-toface experience. Telemedicine was already in place prior to the COVID-19 crisis but barriers are rapidly coming down to its widespread use and patients seem to embrace this, even as health-care systems navigate the complicated issues of cybersecurity and patient privacy. Regulatory guidance may be needed to develop safe, secure, and patient-friendly telehealth applications. Telemedicine has affected the prescribing of controlled substances in which online counseling, informed consent, and follow-up must be done in a virtual setting. For example, pill counts can be done in a video call and patients can still get questions answered about their pain therapy, although it is likely that after the crisis, prescribing controlled substances may revert to face-to-face visits. Limitations: The health-care system finds itself in a very fluid situation at the time this was written and changes are still occurring and being assessed. Conclusions: Many of the technological changes imposed so abruptly on the health-care system by the COVID-19 pandemic may be positive and it may be beneficial that some of these transitions be preserved or modified as we move forward. Clinicians must be objective in assessing these changes and retaining those changes that clearly improve health-care education and patient care as we enter the COVID era. Key words: Continuing medical education, COVID-19, fellowship program, medical education, medical meetings, residency program, telehealth, telemedicine

Technology Integration: The Role of the Diabetes Care and Education Specialist in Practice.

Technology is rapidly evolving and has become an integral component of diabetes care. People with diabetes and clinicians are harnessing a variety of technologies, including connected blood glucose meters, continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, automated insulin delivery systems, data-sharing platforms, telehealth, remote monitoring, and smartphone mobile applications to improve clinical outcomes and quality of life. Although diabetes technology use is associated with improved outcomes, this is enhanced when the person using it is knowledgeable and actively engaged; simply wearing the device or downloading an app may not automatically translate into health benefits. The diabetes care and education specialist (DCES) has a central role in defining and establishing a technology-enabled practice setting that is efficient and sustainable. The purpose of this article is to describe the role of the DCES in technology implementation and to demonstrate the value of diabetes technology in both the care of the individual and as a tool to support population-level health improvements. By following the recommendations in this article, DCESs can serve as technology champions in their respective practices and work to reduce therapeutic inertia while improving health outcomes and providing patient-centered care for the populations they serve.

An Integrated and Secured Medical Data Framework for Effective Tele Health Applications

The rapid progression of healthcare technologies and transmission strategies makes the system reliable to gain, dispense and manage data over medical devices and as well improves conventional hospital information systems (HIS) to deliver effective healthcare services. When the patient medical information is communicated through wireless network, there exists a high chance of modifying the information. Therefore, a futuristic tele healthcare framework has been proposed to ensure the security, data integrity, quality and minimisation of bandwidth requirements for offering complete healthcare services at reduced cost. The proposed framework encompasses the integration of three modules viz. steganography, compression and encryption. This framework also validates the integrity of ROI, furthermore it ensures better compression ratio. Finally, the whole image is encrypted with modified chaotic map encryption in order to afford complete medical data security. Experimental outcomes demonstrate that the proposed framework offers robustness in terms of security, quality and reliability which alleviate misdiagnosis at the physician end in telemedicine applications.

Joint Watermarking-Encryption-ECC for Patient Record Security in Wavelet Domain

Maintaining electronic patient records is the primary role for the fruitful implementation of the telehealth services in urban areas to enhance the quality of healthcare. These records frequently shared in-between professionals and healthcare centers so as to develop efficient tool(s) for accurate diagnosis purpose. However, protection of these records is a challenging task in the current era. In this article, we develop a joint watermarking-encryption- error correcting code (ECC) technique for the purpose of securing patient records. The suggested method involves three major steps as follows: 1) watermarks generation and scrambling, 2) encryption of cover and generated watermark via Paillier cryptosystem, and 3) imperceptibly embedding and robustly recovery/extraction of the watermarks. Experimental results indicate that the proposed technique offers high robustness and fulfills all watermarking needs for telehealth applications in terms of imperceptibility, robustness, capacity, and security. Furthermore, the proposed method achieves better robustness against varying attacks, and outperforms former techniques.

COVID-19-A Guide to Rapid Implementation of Telehealth Services: A Playbook for the Pediatric Gastroenterologist.

COVID-19-A Guide to Rapid Implementation of Telehealth Services: A Playbook for the Pediatric Gastroenterologist.

Early Experience with a Telehealth Platform in LVAD Patients

Telehealth has the potential to improve health care delivery by simplifying communication between providers and patients. This technology is well suited to LVAD patients because of the need for close monitoring and ease of access to the LVAD team for patients in remote areas. In this study, we describe our early experience with a novel telehealth platform that was designed specifically for LVAD patients. In conjunction with Medocity Inc, we developed a platform that included daily VAD parameter logs, medication adherence, video-messaging, and instructional videos. We recruited 25 LVAD patients to utilize the platform on a daily basis. Patients were expected to login daily and enter their LVAD parameters, answer daily health questions, and enter medication compliance in the virtual pillbox. Patients also were given the option to review educational videos, message providers with concerns, as well as review their LVAD parameters to monitor for outliers. The primary outcome was patient satisfaction measured by a patient centered survey. Secondary outcomes were 30 day readmission and 30 day patient engagement. 22 out of the 25 patients completed the end of survey study (1 refused, 2 wrong survey). Table 1 summarizes the responses; which notably includes over 90% of respondents stating that the application helps them feel more in control of their care. A sampling of comments: Being able to track my LVAD makes me more aware of the LVAD function. Very beneficial and easy access daily data records and allows faster communication from LVAD Coordinator I felt safe knowing that I was being monitored. Patient engagement was defined as: days logged into platform/days out of hospital. The average engagement was 71% for the first 30 days. There were 6 readmissions (23%) in the first 30 days. Our institutional 30 day readmission benchmark is 25%. Telehealth applications can improve patient satisfaction through greater connectedness with their LVAD team. Its potential for reducing readmissions should be tested in a larger prospective study.

Bridging the Gap: Telehealth Applications in Palliative Care (P20)

•Describe the various modalities and settings of telehealth use in palliative care—inpatient, community-based, and Project ECHO.•Identify the legal and billing/insurance issues relevant for telehealth in palliative care.•Summarize advantages, challenges, and barriers to the implementation of telehealth in palliative care.•Develop a workplan for instituting or expanding telehealth in palliative care. As with many specialties, it is difficult to sustain palliative care programs in rural areas. This is particularly true in areas such as the Southeast where non-urban hospitals tend to be small and for-profit, two characteristics associated with lacking palliative care services. Early efforts to address rural inequities focused on moving specialists into areas of need, but some of these succumbed to a lack of consistent volume and revenue for the time expended by specialists. More recently, efforts to address rural inequities have shifted to using technology to bridge the distances. Through detailed descriptions of initiatives at three major palliative care centers, participants will understand the strengths and opportunities for leveraging telehealth to expand and sustain palliative care. Workshop leaders will describe how and why they have implemented these four models: tele-medicine by palliative providers to a rural clinic; tele-consultation for inpatient palliative care; tele-monitoring to increase efficiency and communication for home-based palliative care; and tele-mentoring to push palliative care practices from major centers out to community providers. Workshop leaders will provide detailed implementation checklists for each model; descriptions of advantages and disadvantages of each; technological, regulatory, and legal considerations including variation across states; and concise summaries of the evidence base for each. Slides and additional tables summarizing the essential strengths and pitfalls for implementing each model will be provided, as well as references to articles and other resources. Throughout the workshop, participants will be encouraged to discuss their own efforts to reach rural patients. Worksheets will be used to give participants an opportunity to begin fleshing out their own version of each model, and to apply the strengths and weaknesses of each of these models in their own communities.

140. Early Lessons Learned from Implementing Telehealth in Rural School Based Health Centers

New Mexico (NM) is a large rural and frontier state with 32 of 33 counties classified as health provider shortage areas and a high percentage of youth live in poverty. School-based health centers (SBHC) have economic benefit and help address healthcare needs of underserved youth, but access to specialty pediatric care remains difficult, especially in rural areas. FRONTERAS (Facilitating Rural Opportunities with New TEchnologies, Resources And Services) is a SBHC initiative to increase access to University of New Mexico pediatric sub-specialists (obesity, asthma, oral health, and behavioral health) using telehealth (TH) applications for direct service delivery, case consultation, and provider, child and family education in four rural SBHCs using telehealth (TH). Implementation has been challenging as it requires SBHC staff training in the use and usability of the technology, changes in clinic workflow, billing and coding processes, and increased clinic staff flexibility. We summarize challenges and early successes.

РОЛЬ ТЕЛЕМЕДИЦИНЫ В ПОДГОТОВКЕ НАУЧНО-ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИХ И ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНЫХ МЕДИЦИНСКИХ КАДРОВ

Nowadays, telemedicine services are widely used throughout the world. Various types of telemedicine services, such as the storage and transmission of real-time information, remote monitoring or self-control can be applied in the fields of education, health and management, disease screening and disaster risk management worldwide. Telemedicine can play a big role in conducting medical research, as well as in the field of training scientific personnel, allowing remotely collaborate with scientific and clinical institutions and gain access to expensive remote equipment. In this context, it is considered appropriate to develop and apply such innovative ideas as online computing models in telehealth applications; simplified software and hardware interfaces, programs for modelling; portable telepresence systems; artificial intelligence applications that are especially relevant in cases where simulated patients cannot replace real ones; and development of a large number of application simulators. Keywords: Telemedicine, technology, telecommunications, innovation.

Current status of telehealth in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the responses of countries to emerging infectious diseases have altered dramatically, increasing the demand for health-care practitioners. Telehealth (TH) applications could have an important role in supporting public health precautions and the control of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This review summarizes the existing literature on the current status of TH applications used during COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia and discusses the extent to which TH can support public health measures. TH mobile applications (e.g., Seha, Mawid, Tawakklna, Tabaud, and Tetamman) have found effective tools to facilitate delivering healthcare to persons with COVID-19, and tracking of COVID-19 patients. TH has been essential in the control of the spread of COVID-19 and has helped to flatten the growth curve in Saudi Arabia. Further research is needed to explore the impact of TH applications on the progression of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.

Role of telerehabilitation in musculoskeletal conditions during COVID-19 pandemic

Sir, The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented challenges and dilemmas for physiotherapists in relation to physical exercise procedures, continuation of education, and research around the world. The global coronavirus is reminding us the importance of telehealth to deliver rehabilitation services. Implementing telehealth proactively rather than reactively is more likely to generate greater benefits in the long term and help with the everyday (and emergency) challenges in health care.[1] Several states in India have adopted safety and social distancing measures to prevent infection and to further minimize the risk of community transmission through manual contact. Telerehabilitation [Figure 1] is the common term utilized by the physiotherapist internationally for telehealth applications. Telephysiotherapy is the technology used for virtual visit consultations and protocols, which makes use of information and communication to facilitate rehabilitation of patients who are confined in their homes. It is an ultimate tool to provide high-quality personalized musculoskeletal physiotherapy practice in the society and an effective way to reduce crowding of patients and accompanying persons in clinics/hospitals at this crucial time of COVID pandemic.Figure 1: Telerehabilitation at workDespite the significant benefits, a number of challenges in the implementation of telephysiotherapy have been identified in developing countries like India such as underdeveloped infrastructure (poor energy and inadequate power supply, network issues, and shortage of multimedia devices), lack of comprehensive training for professionals, ethical issues (professional licensing, liability and malpractice, privacy, confidentiality, culture, environmental stigma, abuse, and quackery), and financial implications (affordability of mobile phones and reimbursement of rendered services). Complex optical image, sensor-based technologies, and virtual reality-based telerehabilitation systems have eroded these barriers in the last decade in developed countries.[2] Knee osteoarthritis causes musculoskeletal pain and disability affects up to one-third of people aged over 60 years. High-quality evidence has suggested that therapeutic exercise to strengthen muscles can significantly reduce pain and improve physical function and the quality of life (Qol). A health-related survey (36-item short questionnaire) to assess Qol recommends physical, psychological, and social domains of health. It refers to cognitive factors including coping, self-efficacy, somatization, pain catastrophizing, and helplessness and behavioral factors include kinesiophobia (pain related fear of movement) and pain-related fear avoidance.[3] Moderate quality of intervention and positive impact on health outcomes and satisfaction noted in musculoskeletal conditions in a systematic review of telehealth video conferencing physiotherapy.[4] University of Queensland (Australia) and the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) practiced physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy under the supervision of clinical educators at their state art of telerehabilitation clinial. Theory and practical aspects were introduced via teleheath online learning modules for the academic purpose to develop unique skill through hands-on practicum, in which students and clinical educators worked through clinical cases.[5] PhysioDirect, a united kingdom-based telephone-delivered physiotherapy service, has proven equally effective as usual treatment for people with musculoskeletal conditions. Telephysiotherapy is more accessible and affordable and does not require access to a computer or Internet and does not even require skills needed to operate high tech gadgets. It may therefore mitigate the clinical, economical, and social burden in the society and in some ways revolutionize the practice of physiotherapy in future.[6] Physiotherapists have proven their resilience and professional dedication to stand firm with other health-care professionals as a frontline rehabilitative team. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.

Design and Fabrication of Multi-band Wearable Fractal Antenna for Telehealth Applications

In this paper, a Multi-band Wearable Fractal Antenna is fabricated for Telehealth Applications. The projected antenna substrate is made from a flexible Jeans textile material. The dielectric properties of this textile can be measured by two different methods. Also, a folded copper tape is used to fabricate the projected wearable antenna. Further, the projected antenna under the bent conditions is studied in details. The specific absorption ratio (SAR) is also studied in this paper. The projected antenna is simulated by CST simulator version 2018 and measured by Agilent8719ES VNA. Finally, there is a large convergence between the measured and the simulation results.

Telehealth for the internal medicine resident: A 3-year longitudinal curriculum

Aims Across the United States of America, patients are increasingly receiving healthcare using innovative telehealth technologies. As healthcare continues to shift away from traditional office-based visits, providers face new challenges. Telehealth champions are needed to adapt technologies to meet the needs of patients, providers and communities, especially within the realm of primary care specialties. Given these challenges, this intervention aimed to incorporate telemedicine into internal medicine resident training across multiple training years to prepare them for practice in the current and changing healthcare system. Methods Education and telehealth leaders at the Medical University of South Carolina identified key topics relevant to telehealth and the provision of general internal medicine services. With this as a framework, we developed a 3-year longitudinal telehealth curriculum for internal medicine resident physicians, consisting of an introduction to telemedicine equipment in the first year, didactic learning through in-person education and online modules in the second year and experiential learning through remote monitoring of chronic disease in the third year. Participants included approximately 100 internal medicine residents per year (2016–2019). Self-perceived knowledge, comfort and ability to provide telehealth services was assessed via a survey completed before and after participation in the curriculum. Results Resident physicians’ self-reported knowledge of telehealth history, access to care, contributions of telehealth applications and quality of care and communication each improved after completion of the online curriculum. There were also significant improvements in resident comfort and perceived ability to provide telehealth services after participation in the curriculum, as assessed via a survey. Overall, 41% of residents felt their ability to utilize telehealth as part of their current or future practice was greater than average after completion of the online modules compared to only 2% at baseline (p<0.01). Results also show residents accurately identify barriers to telehealth adoption at the healthcare system level, including the lack of clinical time to implement services (67% post- vs 47% pre-curriculum, p = 0.02), unfamiliarity with concepts (65% post- vs 21% pre-curriculum, p<−0.01) and concerns about consistent provider reimbursement (74% post- vs 39% pre-curriculum, p < 0.01). Conclusion Telemedicine and remote patient monitoring are an increasingly prevalent form of healthcare delivery. Internal medicine residents must be adept in caring for patients utilizing this technology. This curriculum was effective in improving resident comfort and self-efficacy in providing care through telehealth and provided residents with hands-on opportunities through supervised inclusion in remote patient-monitoring services. This curriculum model could be employed and evaluated within other internal medicine residency programmes to determine the feasibility at institutions with and without advanced telehealth centres.

Telehealth and telemedicine applications for the diabetic foot: A systematic review.

SummaryThe aim of this systematic review is to assess the peer‐reviewed literature on the psychometric properties, feasibility, effectiveness, costs, and current limitations of using telehealth and telemedicine approaches for prevention and management of diabetic foot disease. MEDLINE/PubMed was searched for peer‐reviewed studies on telehealth and telemedicine approaches for assessing, monitoring, preventing, or treating diabetic foot disease. Four modalities were formulated: dermal thermography, hyperspectral imaging, digital photographic imaging, and audio/video/online communication. Outcome measures were: validity, reliability, feasibility, effectiveness, and costs. Sixty‐one studies were eligible for analysis. Three randomized controlled trials showed that handheld infrared dermal thermography as home‐monitoring tool is effective in reducing ulcer recurrence risk, while one small trial showed no effect. Hyperspectral imaging has been tested in clinical settings to assess and monitor foot disease and conflicting results on its diagnostic use show that this method is still in an experimental stage. Digital photography is used to assess and monitor foot ulcers and pre‐ulcerative lesions and was found to be a valid, reliable, and feasible method for telehealth purposes. Audio/video/online communication is mainly used for foot ulcer monitoring. Two randomized controlled trials show similar healing efficacy compared with regular outpatient clinic visits, but no benefit in costs. In conclusion, several technologies with good psychometric properties are available that may be of benefit in helping to assess, monitor, prevent, or treat diabetic foot disease, but in most cases, feasibility, effectiveness, and cost savings still need to be demonstrated to become accepted and used modalities in diabetic foot care.

Indoor Occupancy Awareness and Localization Using Passive Electric Field Sensing

This paper introduces sparse low-power sensor networks using passive electric potential sensors for crowd-aware smart buildings. The proposed networks can detect human presence, track their positions, and estimate room occupancy by measuring the electric field disturbances caused by human movement. In addition, the proposed passive sensing system can remotely monitor human physiological signals of nearby stationary occupants (standoff ~1.5 m) when the ambient 60-Hz fields are filtered out. Based on an experimentally calibrated source range model, we further propose an improved multiple-occupant near-field indoor localization method using a maximum likelihood algorithm combined with dividing rectangular search. The tradeoff between search efficiency and localization accuracy is also discussed. Experimental results in two different rooms for 1 week duration show the effectiveness of our proposed sensing system: human identification with an accuracy of 98.3% on six participants, occupant localization methods with room occupancy estimation accuracy of 89.03%, and average localization error less than 0.3 m. These results open up new possibilities in security, indoor navigation or positioning systems, human–machine interfaces, and tele-health applications.