Ambulation: A Tool for Monitoring Mobility Patterns over Time Using Mobile Phones

An important tool for evaluating the health of patients who suffer from mobility-affecting chronic diseases such as MS, Parkinson´s, and muscular dystrophy is assessment of how much they walk. Ambulation is a mobility monitoring system that uses Android and Nokia N95 mobile phones to automatically detect the user´s mobility mode. The user´s only required interaction with the phone is turning it on and keeping it with him/her throughout the day, with the intention that it could be used as his/her everyday mobile phone for voice, data, and other applications, while Ambulation runs in the background. The phone uploads the collected mobility and location information to a server and a secure, intuitive Web-based visualization of the data is available to the user and any family, friends or caregivers whom they authorize, allowing them to identify trends in their mobility and measure progress over time and in response to varying treatments.