The activPAL™ measures physical activities. When you move, it moves generating totals for the time spent lying, sitting, standing and stepping, every second of the day.
The activPAL is a miniature electronic logger designed to quantify free-living daily activities. The device contains a microprocessor, sensing element, recording element, associated electronics and power supply. The microprocessor controls the processing and recording of the sensor signal and the communication with a host PC.
This system allows a person’s daily activities to be classified, second by second, in terms of the time spent lying, sitting, standing, stepping. This system, while minimally encumbering to the wearer uses complex analysis routines to obtain the activity classification profile. We call these analysis routines “Intelligent Activity Classification” and our approach is the subject of a number of international patent applications.
The activPAL uses an accelerometer to sense limb position and activity. From this information it can reliably discriminate periods of upright activity from seated or lying activities. Further, the stepping rate (cadence) of upright activities can be accurately recorded allowing the intensity of a person’s physical activity to be quanitified.
In its standard configuration the activPAL makes measurements of position every 20th of a second. This raw acceleration data is packaged and stored memory allowing recording durations of up to fourteen days (typical wear time is seven days) and the additional recording capacity allows flexibility for postal distribution and subject wear compliance.