A Falls Risk Screening Tool Based on Millimetre-Wave Radar

Elif Dogu, Jose Paredes, Jose Paredes, Akram Alomainy, Janelle Jones, Khalid Rajab

2024

Abstract

Falls among the older adults pose a global health concern, necessitating innovative approaches for timely and effective falls risk screening. Aiming to develop a real-time falls risk screening tool, this study explores the integration of millimeter-wave (mmWave) radar technology with the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, which is a widely used screening tool that combines parameters measuring a person’s dynamic balance and functional mobility. Radar technology has emerged as a promising tool for non-intrusive, continuous monitoring of movements – including gait patterns and mobility – in real-life scenarios. By leveraging Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar, the study assesses its performance against video recordings in TUG completion time measurement. The completion time, conventionally measured manually with a timer in clinical settings, was derived from radar measurements using two different methods based on distance, and micro-Doppler (i.e. velocity). Results indicate radar’s superior accuracy in distance-based measures with 3.48% error and a correlation of 0.9996, surpassing manual timing (4.26% error, 0.9960 correlation) and demonstrating viability for falls risk screening protocols. The velocity-based determination performed slightly poorer (6.49% error, 0.9936 correlation), which is attributable to the very high sensitivity of the radar in detecting small motions, such as shuffling in a chair, that are not a part of the TUG sequence. This study contributes to healthcare technology innovation, emphasising radar’s transformative role beyond falls risk assessment. The precision of radar-based measurements opens avenues for enhanced diagnostics, monitoring, and personalised care.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Dogu E., Paredes J., Alomainy A., Jones J. and Rajab K. (2024). A Falls Risk Screening Tool Based on Millimetre-Wave Radar. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE; ISBN 978-989-758-700-9, SciTePress, pages 161-168. DOI: 10.5220/0012618900003699

in Bibtex Style

@conference{ict4awe24,
author={Elif Dogu and Jose Paredes and Akram Alomainy and Janelle Jones and Khalid Rajab},
title={A Falls Risk Screening Tool Based on Millimetre-Wave Radar},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE},
year={2024},
pages={161-168},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0012618900003699},
isbn={978-989-758-700-9},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE
TI - A Falls Risk Screening Tool Based on Millimetre-Wave Radar
SN - 978-989-758-700-9
AU - Dogu E.
AU - Paredes J.
AU - Alomainy A.
AU - Jones J.
AU - Rajab K.
PY - 2024
SP - 161
EP - 168
DO - 10.5220/0012618900003699
PB - SciTePress