Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 24-2 - 9

Measurement Parameters for Real-time
Connectivity
The essential requirement for an effective monitoring system
is a reliable low-latency communication network, which is
responsible for connecting the devices and sensors in the environment. The communication network collects physiological
and environmental data to process them at a decision-making center. During a pandemic, quick actions from caregivers
in case of emergency or unforeseen events are imperative.
Therefore, real-time connectivity to detect infection outbreak
or identify when an elderly person is showing COVID-like
symptoms makes all the difference. However, with billions
of people working at home to prevent the spread of the virus, communication systems are facing unprecedented stress
due to the massive surge in traffic volume. Many service providers had to lower their quality of service to accommodate
as many connection requests as possible because the underlying infrastructure could not cope with the amount of demand.
Monitoring systems need to receive information in real-time
and process them without delays. Therefore, the main requirement is to utilize emerging communication paradigms such as
IoT and edge network computing to lessen the effect of the delay. IoT and edge computing allow for the processing of data
in a distributed fashion near the data source. Moreover, edgebased data processing parameters such as latency, time, power,
and cost are much lower than any centralized data processing.

Current Elderly Monitoring Systems
As mentioned, monitoring systems for older adults are characterized by their diversity of measurement and instrumentation
components and requirements. In this section, we discuss the
various methods and choices used in the monitoring system,
mainly focusing on the latest trend.

Techniques for Detecting and Controlling COVIDlike Infections
C u r re n t m e a s u re m e n t
techniques for detecting
dangerous pathogens focus
on hospital-acquired infections (HAI). In the wake of
the COVID-19 pandemic,
infection detection and
control instrumentation
and measurement techniques for senior homes
become necessary. To this
end, researchers at the University of Calgary, Canada
are experimenting with
home-based devices that
detect whether an occupant
has the virus and report the
result automatically to a
care center. Other methods include techniques to
April 2021

measure hand hygiene and track the cleansing process. Contaminated hands are a major source of spreading infections
because viruses and pathogens can live on the skin for long
periods if not cleaned according to hand-hygiene protocols.
One possible solution is to use Radio Frequency Identifiers
(RFIDs) to monitor the compliance of hand hygiene in senior homes. For example, the study in [6] presents a technique
where staff members are equipped with passive RFIDs that
can be detected by an RFID reader installed in the soap dispenser. Each time the staff members cleans their hands, the
information is collected and stored in a server for further analysis for hygiene compliance. In [7], the authors propose a radio
frequency wash (RFwash) that tracks hand hygiene based on
gesture movement. Other instrumentation and measurement
methods include the use of smart toilets, which employ chemical measurement and analysis to detect health problems in
human urine and feces, including infectious diseases. The system comprises fingerprint sensors to identify the person and a
mechanism (e.g., smartphone, point-of-care, etc.) to alert people when infections or certain diseases are discovered.

Invasive and Non-invasive Physiological and ADL
Measurement Methods
Physiological parameters and ADL measurement methods
that collect and process data about the well-being of the elderly can be roughly divided, into invasive and non-invasive
categories, as shown in Fig. 3. Invasive methods are widely investigated because they are simple to use. Examples of these
methods include wearable devices such as glucose testing
tools. These devices use sensors to measure various vital signs
and communicate the measurement to a point-of-care to analyze and detect if the person is under medical distress. The
main issue with these measurement methods is that they use
devices that are often bulky and may obstruct the elder movements. They also require maintenance and calibration, which

Fig. 3. Examples of invasive and non-invasive measurement methods.

IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 9

Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 24-2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 24-2