Distributed Intelligent Sensor Network for Neurological Rehabilitation Research

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with reduced coordination between respiration and locomotion. A mobile health care system for long-time monitoring these vital signals and online analysis of the vegetative locomotor coordination is in great demand and of great challenge. We have developed a miniaturized sensor node system (iNODE, intelligent Network Operating DEvice), which can be folded to a compact cube of 20x20x20 mm. This iNODE is capable of recording the vital signals, e. g. locomotive signal and respiratory signal. These acquired signals are further processed on microprocessor of the iNODE in real-time, to determine the accurate time of step event and respiratory phase. Based on the current prototype, an IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) RF transceiver component will be integrated for wireless bidirectional communication between different sensor nodes, as well as the communication between network and PC. In conclusion, this miniaturized and convenient iNODE enables analysis of the coordination between respiration and locomotion, which will facilitate the rehabilitation for Parkinson patients.