Mobility change-of-state detection using a smartphone-based approach

Understanding the mobility of people with physical disabilities is important for rehabilitation decision making. This paper presents a smartphone-based approach to mobility monitoring. The BlackBerry-based system is clipped to the person's belt. This approach uses an accelerometer signal to identify changes-of-state caused by starting/stopping and postural change. Our finding suggests that a smartphone integrated with an accelerometer could detect changes from static or dynamic movement (i.e., starting to walk, standing still, slowing down), which compares favorably with previous studies using body-fixed accelerometers. This approach is part of the larger framework of Wearable Mobility Monitoring Systems (WMMS).