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. 2016 Sep;31(6):474-80.
doi: 10.1177/1533317515619479. Epub 2016 Feb 11.

Field Evaluations of Tracking/Locating Technologies for Prevention of Missing Incidents

Tatjana Bulat  1 , Michael V Kerrigan  2 , Meredeth Rowe  3 , William Kearns  4 , Jeffrey D Craighead  5 , Padmaja Ramaiah  5
Affiliations

Field Evaluations of Tracking/Locating Technologies for Prevention of Missing Incidents

Tatjana Bulat et al. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2016 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Persons with dementia are at risk of a missing incident, which is defined as an instance in which a demented person's whereabouts are unknown to the caregiver and the individual is not in an expected location. Since it is critical to determine the missing person's location as quickly as possible, we evaluated whether commercially available tracking technologies can assist in a rapid recovery.

Methods: This study examined 7 commercially available tracking devices: 3 radio frequency (RF) based and 4 global positioning system (GPS) based, employing realistic tracking scenarios. Outcome measures were time to discovery and degree of deviation from a straight intercept course.

Results/conclusion: Across all scenarios tested, GPS devices were found to be approximately twice as efficient as the RF devices in locating a "missing person." While the RF devices showed reasonable performance at close proximity, the GPS devices were found to be more appropriate overall for tracking/locating missing persons over unknown and larger distances.

Keywords: fractal dimension; locating; missing incident; recovery; tortuosity; tracking.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The GPS data of tracker’s path using an RF device to track a “missing person” in the wooded setting at 100% MOFR for this device. Arrows represent locators starting position, and missing person’s location. GPS indicates global positioning system; MOFR, maximum open field range; RF, radio frequency.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Fractal dimension versus initial starting distance (ft) for RF devices in the open setting. RF indicates radio frequency.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Fractal dimension versus Initial Starting Distance (ft) for RF devices in the urban setting. RF indicates radio frequency.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The FD results for GPS devices for open, wooded, and urban setting. FD indicates fractal dimension; GPS, global positioning system.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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