Personal Monitoring With RFID and GPS for Missing Person Alerts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for locating missing children and adults, such as amber and silver alerts, rely on public notification and are ineffective when the individual is unable to communicate or becomes disoriented, and personal communication devices are useless in emergencies.
Innovation Solution
A personal monitoring apparatus using RFID technologies and global positioning information to track individuals' locations, provide alerts, and establish communication links with authorized persons, including healthcare and law enforcement, to ensure timely assistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If public notification systems (amber/silver alerts) are used to locate missing individuals, then public awareness is increased, but the system becomes ineffective when the individual is unable to communicate or becomes disoriented
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring device automatically performs location tracking, vital sign monitoring, and emergency alerting without requiring the individual to operate any device or communicate. The system self-activates when predefined conditions are met, eliminating dependency on the individual's communication ability while maintaining reliable operation.
2Ease of operation
If personal communication devices are provided to individuals, then communication capability is improved, but the device becomes useless in emergencies when the individual falls ill, panics, or becomes unconscious
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring device automatically detects emergency conditions through vital sign monitoring and location tracking, then self-activates alerting functions without requiring the individual to press buttons or communicate. This ensures reliable emergency notification even when the individual is incapacitated.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors vital signs and location data, comparing real-time measurements against predefined thresholds and patterns. When anomalies are detected indicating emergency conditions, the system automatically triggers alerts to authorized contacts, creating a closed-loop feedback mechanism that responds autonomously to changing conditions.
3Measurement precision
If RFID technologies and global positioning are used to track individuals, then location monitoring precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring device integrates multiple functions including RFID location tracking, GPS positioning, vital sign monitoring, and emergency alerting into a single unified system. This multi-functionality approach consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate devices, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high measurement precision through the coordinated operation of these functions.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus, including a monitoring device including a database which stores travel itinerary or a travel schedule information of an individual, a global positioning device; and an RFID tag; an RFID reader; and a computer. The computer generates a first message and transmits the first message to a user communication device, the monitoring device, or a central processing computer. The personal monitoring device determines that the individual is not following the travel itinerary or travel schedule, or that the individual has deviated from the travel itinerary or travel schedule. The monitoring device generates a second message containing information regarding a location of the individual and transmits the second message to the user communication device.