Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Statistics Canada estimates that by 2051, one in four Canadians will be senior citizens (65 years or older), with many still living at home where adverse events are more difficult to prevent. The ageing of Canada's population is expected to have a major impact on the country's society, economy, and health care system over the coming decades. Falls are one of the greatest concerns for the elderly population, their families, and the staff of retirement homes and long-term care facilities. The implications of falls range from decreased mobility, loss of independence, hospitalization, and in severe cases, death. In an already stressed Canadian health care system, cost effective ways of monitoring the health of senior citizens must be developed. Heart and breathing rates act as markers of vital functions and possible underlying pathologies. These markers can be monitored through devices acting as indirect contact sensors, such as smart phones and watches, but are only effective if used continuously during daily activities. Some seniors may express reluctance to wear sensors or may forget to use their devices due to underlying dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Currently, wearables in the form of bracelets, pendants, and buttons used for either detecting falls or for activating an alarm in case of a fall require the person who fell to activate the alarm themselves. Contactless monitoring allows for automated detection of falls and vital signs without any intervention of the subject being monitored, improving detection times and thus health outcomes. Radar, as an unobtrusive, privacy-preserving sensor, would allow for continuous vital sign and fall monitoring in circumstances when indirect contact sensing fails. Current radar-based systems can only reliably provide vital sign estimates of a single subject when at rest. Tracking of individual vital sign estimates, falls, or activities in multi-person environments is difficult due to poor signal quality resulting from excessive motion artefacts and interferences. Tracking of falls of individuals in multi-person settings, such as retirement homes or long-term care facilities, is needed as many falls may be unwitnessed or go unrecognized. This proposal aims to develop advanced signal processing algorithms using intelligent and adaptive classical radars, alongside next generation quantum sensors to provide reliable continuous radar-based monitoring of subjects to better detect falls and monitor vitals of multiple mobile subjects in group settings. Theoretical and experimental investigations will be conducted alongside algorithm development to understand and overcome impediments in developing fully automated contactless and intelligent multi-sensor systems, using emerging next generation quantum sensors, such as quantum radars. This program will lead to health and economic benefits through increased longevity, independence, and quality of life for senior citizens, with fewer hospital stays.