This paper presents a fall risk assessment approach based on a fast mobility test, automatically evaluated using a low-cost, scalable system for the recording and analysis of body movement. This mobility test has never before been investigated as a sole source of data for fall risk assessment. It can be performed in a very limited space and needs only minimal additional equipment, yet provides large amounts of information, as the presented system can obtain much more data than traditional observation by capturing minute details regarding body movement. The readings are provided wirelessly by one to seven low-cost micro-electro-mechanical inertial measurement units attached to the subject’s body segments. Combined with a body model, these allow segment rotations and translations to be computed and for body movements to be recreated in software. The subject can then be automatically classified by an artificial neural network based on selected values in the test, and those with an elevated risk of falls can be identified. Results obtained from a group of 40 subjects of various ages, both healthy volunteers and patients with vestibular system impairment, are presented to demonstrate the combined capabilities of the test and system. Labelling of subjects as fallers and non-fallers was performed using an objective and precise sensory organization test; it is an important novelty as this approach to subject labelling has never before been used in the design and evaluation of fall risk assessment systems. The findings show a true-positive ratio of 85% and true-negative ratio of 63% for classifying subjects as fallers or non-fallers using the introduced fast mobility test, which are noticeably better than those obtained for the long-established Timed Up and Go test.

Balance disorders are a growing problem worldwide. Thus, there is an increasing need to provide an inexpensive and feasible alternative to standard posturographic platforms (SP) used for the assessment of balance and to provide a possible solution for telemonitoring of patients. A novel mobile posturography (MP) MediPost device was developed to address these issues. This prospective study used a Modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction on Balance to evaluate healthy individuals and patients with a unilateral vestibular disorder through SP and MP simultaneously. The control group included 65 healthy volunteers, while the study group included 38 patients diagnosed with a unilateral vestibular deficit. The angular velocity values obtained from both methods were compared by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Bland–Altman plot analysis. Diagnostic capabilities were measured in terms of sensitivity and specificity. The ICC between the two methods for conditions 2–4 was indicative of excellent reliability, with the ICC > 0.9 (p < 0.001), except for Condition 1 (standing stance, eyes open) ICC = 0.685, p < 0.001, which is indicative of moderate reliability. ROC curve analysis of angular velocity for condition 4 represents the most accurate differentiating factor with AUC values of 0.939 for SP and 0.953 for MP. This condition also reported the highest sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV values with 86.4%, 87.7%, 80%, and 90.5% for SP, and 92.1%, 84.6%, 77.8%, and 94.8% for MP, respectively. The newly developed MediPost device has high sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing between healthy individuals and patients with a unilateral vestibular deficit.

An active heating system has been developed for application in smart clothing for mountain rescuers. It uses a set of sensors and is aimed at gathering necessary data for the elaboration and testing of an automatic control algorithm. The system is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack, which can be additionally charged from flexible PV modules. The article presents an estimation of this system’s power supply requirements and its energy budget. Since the system’s maximum operation time strongly depends on the efficiency of its main power converter, the design of the latter was based on a model enabling power loss estimation in its particular components. Characteristics ultimately measured on a prototype showed a high agreement with simulations. Furthermore, five different arrangements of PV modules were studied in order to find the most effective one. The system was tested in real conditions for the three most promising PV module configurations.

Heated clothing is an alternative to passive thermally insulating clothing used so far, made of thick, multi-layered fabric compounds. In this work, a personalized two-layer heated clothing ensemble for mountain rescuers was developed. It consisted of an electrically heated inner suit and an outer suit made of waterproof laminate. Total thermal insulation and local thermal insulations were determined using a thermal manikin. The heating system’s performance was assessed by comparing these results with those obtained with the heating turned off in the same ensemble, as well as with a down jacket added. It was confirmed that a thick thermally insulating layer (down jacket) can be eliminated through the application of electric heating. Heating improved the resultant effective thermal insulation of the clothing ensemble by 52% at a total power of 28.4 W. This exceeded the value obtained with the additional down jacket and no heating by 4%.