An agile and accurate microwave system for tracking elderly people occupancy at home

As the population lives longer, more and more individuals are diagnosed with age-related illnesses and need to be monitored and assisted continually, possibly at home. Evidence proves that the examination of high-risk patients' movements and behavior can help the early detection of disorders such as Alzheimer's disease or major depression. In this contribution we describe the exploitation of a 2.45 GHz RFID reader, augmented with the RADAR-monopulse capabilities for accurate and fast beam-steering, to simultaneously locate and track a number of tagged entities (objects or people) static or moving, widely distributed in an harsh electromagnetic (EM) environment. In this way long-term people movements and ambient occupancy can be accurately evaluated in typical room ambient, both residences and nursing homes. The proposed system is able not only to detect the angular position of people but also to estimate their distance from the reader with centimeter accuracy. This information can be collected and adopted for various uses by the family members or by the medical team to assist with early diagnosis and care.