Network of wireless medical devices to assess the gait of rehabilitation in patients for walking and running

In this paper, we present the design of two smart sensor systems to monitor the gait of patients. These sensor systems were developed for deployment within a body worn wireless network system of medical devices. Telemetry, ambulatory and remote monitoring systems composed of micro-mechanical systems have gained importance in the last decade as medical and rehabilitation institutions try to reduce costs by discharging patients earlier while still requiring various levels of monitoring. Most of the systems currently on the market are bulky, closed architecture, static in configuration and use wired medical devices, all of which limit their usage. Gait monitoring is mainly done in laboratories that are fixed and expensive. The aim of the research which encompasses both systems discussed in this paper is to develop an open architecture using Real-Time Object Oriented Modeling that will allow wireless, wearable medical devices to join a dynamically configurable monitoring environment. The intent of the system is to monitor patients recovery by measuring biometrics and biomedical signals as they go about their daily activities. The sensors that are being developed as part of this research are smart sensors that can provide pre-processed information, reducing the load on the wearable computer.