Actigraphy

Name of technology
● Actigraphy
● Define:
○ Acti-
■ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/acti
● Acti --- active
○ Graph
■ a diagram showing the relation between variable quantities
● A measure of activity
Physiological Origins
● Movement of the object that the sensor is placed on
○ Pretty straightforward
● A main use is to study gait or number of steps as a measure of activity.
○ Think about that
○ Discuss the Fitbit, Garmin and the S-health app results
■ Why are they different?
● Placement
● Sensor Technology – sensor in the phone.
● Algorithm
How to measure step counts?
● You need to know something about steps and gait.
● Define: gait
○ a person's manner of walking
Think about the joints and their angles

https://www.physio-pedia.com/Gait
 Joint Angles -- think about the accelerations

Gu Y, Lu Y, Mei Q, Li J,
Ren J. Effects of different
unstable sole
construction on
kinematics and muscle
activity of lower limb.
Hum Mov Sci.
2014;36:46-57.
Think about the movement/speed of the body parts

https://www.physio-pedia.com/Gait
 Acceleration

What would you expect for a right foot sensor movement in three
directions?

Lee JB, Mellifont RB,

James DA, Burkett B.
The Use of Micro-
Electro-Mechanical-
Systems Technology
to Assess Gait
Characteristics. In:
The Impact of
Technology on Sport
II. Taylor & Francis;
2007.
 Acceleration

Lee JB, Mellifont RB,

James DA, Burkett B.
The Use of Micro-
Electro-Mechanical-
Systems Technology
to Assess Gait
Characteristics. In:
The Impact of
Technology on Sport
II. Taylor & Francis;
2007.
 Acceleration

What would you expect for a sacral sensor movement in three

directions?

Lee JB, Mellifont RB,

James DA, Burkett B.
The Use of Micro-
Electro-Mechanical-
Systems Technology
to Assess Gait
Characteristics. In:
The Impact of
Technology on Sport
II. Taylor & Francis;
2007.
 Acceleration

Lee JB, Mellifont RB,

James DA, Burkett B.
The Use of Micro-
Electro-Mechanical-
Systems Technology
to Assess Gait
Characteristics. In:
The Impact of
Technology on Sport
II. Taylor & Francis;
2007.
Where?
● What is a good placement for an accelerometer to detect steps?

● Optimal Placement of Accelerometers for the Detection of Everyday Activities

○ Cleland I, Kikhia B, Nugent C, Boytsov A, Hallberg J, Synnes K, McClean S, Finlay D. Optimal placement of
accelerometers for the detection of everyday activities. Sensors . 2013;13(7):9183-9200.
■ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3758644/
● Look at Figure 2
● Review Figure 1
Which looks like the worst
location for detecting steps?

Which looks like the best

location?

Where are most sensors

placed?

Why?
Pick an activity what do you think is the best place
for each activity?
● DISCUSS
○ Why?
○ What would be the most comfortable?
○ What is the most feasible?
○ How to deal with children?
○ How to deal with cognitive impairment?
■ Memory loss
● E.g. walking, biking, sleeping, stair climbing
● What experiences do people have with activity monitors?
What is the sensor measuring the signal?
● Accelerometer
○ Define: acceler-
■
○ Define: -meter
■
How does an Accelerometer work?
How an accelerometer works - watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2U49usFo10

What words/terms did you not understand?

● MEMS - Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems
● Capacitor - stores electricity and creates an electric field between two
electrically conductive plates. Electricity (voltage) between plates is
dependent on the distance between plates!
○ The distance is something that can be manipulated.
● DISCUSS
Look at data
Plot it
Gait Disturbances
● https://www.physio-pedia.com/Gait
○ Watch the right hand video about gait disturbances
■ How can you use an accelerometer to detect these?
■ Is an accelerometer the best technology?
● Parkinson’s disease
○ Read the intro and methods in class:
■ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ncn3.12043/full
■ DISCUSS: What measures are they using from the sensor?
Range of Gravitational Forces
● Running produces the greatest vertical direction acceleration magnitudes, of
8.1–12.0 g at the ankle
● During walking, upper body accelerations in the vertical direction have been
found to range from − 0.3 to 0.8g, whereas horizontal accelerations range
from − 0.3 to 0.4g at the low back and from − 0.2 to 0.2g at the head
● What are the implications of these ranges?
○ Sensitivity of the device and range of values

Go to phone and look at sensor Info

My Phone’s Accelerometer
● Has a range of 39.2266
● What units are these?
○ They are either g or m/s2
○ They are m/s2
○ Which is 39/9.8 = 4g
● It actually means that it can measure between +39 and -39 m/s2 or +4 to -4 g
● If Running produces gs of 8 to 12 …
○ This sensor is not good for that
● But for walking with max g of 0.8 my phone would be fine
Sensitivity
● My phone says it has a resolution of 0.0011971008
● Where does this number come from and what does it mean?
● This is the smallest difference between readings that the sensor can
measure.
○ In units of m/s2
○ Divide this by 9.8 to get it in units of g
○ It is tiny, really tiny
● Take the range of the device:
○ 39.2266 to -39.2266 = 78.4532
○ 78.4532 / 0.0011971008 = 65536.00
○ This is 216
○ This sensor has 16 bit resolution. How many bit resolution does your
computer have? 32, 64
Digital
● Remember if a signal from a sensor is going to a computer then it is digital.
● Digital means it is a distinct series of numbers
○ You can put them into a spreadsheet
● Records and cassettes play analog music
● CDs and MP3s play digital music
My Goals with these Numbers
● The goal is not to scare you or insist you know these number.
● The goal is to familiarize yourself with them so you have some idea of what
they mean.
○ Image you have to buy a piece of equipment/sensor and you have to
choose between an 8-bit, 12-bit and 16-bit one.
○ What does this mean?
■ It refers to the sensitivity of the sensor
■ It also affects the price of the sensor
■ Are you measuring big signals or small signals?
● Think back to Nintendo
○ https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=681920
Frequency
● The major energy band for daily activities is 0.3–3.5 Hz (Sun and Hill 1993).
Although foot acceleration at heel strike can reach frequencies of up to 60 Hz
● ** What is a HERTZ (Hz)?
● Hz = cycles per second
● How frequent does the heart beat?
○ 72 times a minute = 72/60 = 1.2 Hz
● How frequent are heel strikes when running?
○ 5 min/km
○ 1m/stride
○ 300 sec/1000 strides
○ 1000 heel strikes/300 sec = 3.33 Hz
○ This is the frequency of the strides, not the specific frequency of the
ankle movements
 Acceleration

Lee JB, Mellifont RB,

James DA, Burkett B.
The Use of Micro-
Electro-Mechanical-
Systems Technology
to Assess Gait
Characteristics. In:
The Impact of
Technology on Sport
II. Taylor & Francis;
2007.
Why is the frequency important
● Sampling
○ How frequently do you look at the sensor and make a recording?
● Demonstrate with the Phone
Signal --> Measures
Finally, if the system is to be used in an unsupervised setting to monitor
movements of interest then it also needs to have an ability to identify these
movements in the signals produced by the monitoring system.
Metabolic Energy Expenditure
A number from the Area under the curve
Metabolic Energy Expenditure
What are some limitations of using the area under the curve and equating it to
energy expenditure?
Counts Per Minute
● Area under the
curve in
epochs
● Epochs are
typically one
second or one
minute long
Take aways (Things to know)
● Hertz → Cycles per second
● Range of device
● Sensitivity of device
● Resolution of a device
● Frequencies of the signal you are measuring
○ Note that the stride frequency (low) is different from the frequency of the
accelerations when your heel strikes the ground (high).
○ Think about the ECG, the heart rate is 1.2Hz but the R-wave is much
faster than that
● Sampling → Measurements per second
● Area under the curve
● Area under the curve per epoch (little window per minute)