Monitoring systems
The Technical Research Centre for Dependency Care and Autonomous Living (CETpD), which is attached to the UPC and located in Vilanova i la Geltrú, has been working in the health sector for almost nine years. Its research is focused mainly on the field of dependency and care for the chronically ill. Andreu Català, the director of the Knowledge Engineering Research Group (GREC), stated that: “We do not aim to replace carers, but we do believe that technology can be a very useful complement, as it can help dependent people to feel more comfortable and more secure. Our aim is to develop innovative technology to improve their quality of life.”
From the beginning, one of the main lines of work has involved analysing and monitoring human movement. Inertial sensors have been developed that can detect falls and characterise different types of movement. This research has applications in monitoring and preventing the risk of falls in elderly people or people recovering from a fracture.
Currently, the CETpD is participating in two research projects on Parkinson’s disease: one Ministry of Health study and one European project. Parkinson’s disease is the second most significant neurodegenerative disease in the world, after Alzheimer’s. It affects over four million people. The first project is titled Monitoring the Mobility of Parkinson’s Patients for Therapeutic Purposes (MOMOPA), and is focused on detecting and monitoring various stages in the activity of people with this disease. The other project is titled Home-Based Empowered Living for Parkinson’s Disease Patients (HELP). Its objective is to design a system for administrating the exact drug dose that a patient needs for his or her daily activities by means of an infusion pump, which is controlled by a movement sensor.
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