Frontiers in Computer Science, section Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing

Research Topic: Integration of Digital Health Technologies into Everyday Life

Digital health technologies in daily life can be defined broadly as the set of technologies used to continuously improve, monitor, and regulate users' quality of life. Inertial measurement units (IMUs), mobile phones, and wearables like watches and wristbands dominate the consumer health market and current research. However, most market-ready solutions follow a monolithic design structure: sensor - phone - cloud, which the product vendor mainly controls. This monolithic structure limits the gathering of rich context from the environment, where additional information collected from user interactions with smart environments or devices (e.g., companion robots) provide adequate estimators for difficult to observe context variables such as mood, thermal comfort, or mental state. As digital health assistants become widespread, the need to acquire accurate context is paramount for the assistant to be able to support user interactions that trigger positive behavioral changes.

The goal of this Research Topic is to provide a space for researchers to communicate their advances on digital health technologies used in everyday scenarios within peoples’ homes, work, recreation, or commuting. The current monolithic IMU-based approach to digital health tech design hinders the technology’s ability to accurately, securely, and timely collect vital information. Therefore, this Research Topic aims to explore novel digital health technologies that aid the continuous monitoring, management, and treatment of users’ health at home, at work, or on the move.

Contributions are sought that provide insight into novel frameworks for user health monitoring, management, and treatment. Contributions may focus on specific framework components (e.g., novel sensor modality), but should explore how the contribution fits into existing or future digital health frameworks for daily living monitoring. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Novel sensor technologies and modalities
- Algorithms and methods
- Building sensors / IoT technologies
- Robotics for assisted living or medical home treatment
- Mobile applications
- Cyber security
- EHR/Hospital/Doctor-in-the-loop Integration
- Full Digital Health stacks/frameworks

EXTENDED DEADLINE: December 15th, 2022.