Accurate WiFi-Based Localization of Dementia Patients For Caregiver Support

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): An estimated 5.4 million Americans had Alzheimer's disease in 2012 and a 50% increase in this number is expected by 2030. The majority of these patients (70%) will live at home where they receive 75% of their care frominformal caregivers, unpaid individuals such as family members, friends, and neighbors. These caregivers provide valuable services, often at great economic and psychological cost to themselves. In 2012, over 17 billion hours of unpaid care were estimatedto have been provided by roughly 15.4 million caregivers. Around 15% of them quit their job or reduced their hours to provide this care. This translated to nearly 216 billion dollars of unpaid care in a single year. Technological solutions to assist caregivers in locating wandering patients have been introduced. However, existing solutions lack reliable functionality for indoor environments, require significant infrastructure enhancement, or burden both patient and caregiver with the use of non- discr