Bohdan A.

Oryshkevich, MD, MPH

Illya Tyshchenko

RFID Walking Ecosystems to Encourage Physical Activity to Prevent Diabetes

Mellitus II and to Help Diabetic Patients Dose their Daily Activity

Submission for Diabetes Mine Competition 2011

 RFID Ecosystems for Walking to Prevent Diabetes and to Help Diabetic Patients Dose their
Walking
Submission for Diabetes Mine Competition

Our primary objective in entering the Diabetes Mine competition is to encourage increased
walking and other ambulatory activity on a population wide scale in order to help prevent obesity and
Type II diabetes mellitus.

The secondary and equally important benefit of this effort will be to enable physicians to
encourage, prescribe, and monitor the walking or other ambulatory activity of their diabetic patients.
This combined with other technologies should make it easier for patients to control their diabetes
mellitus. Vitally important lifestyle interventions consisting of regular exercise and better nutrition
enable diabetic patients to control their blood sugar, maintain their weight, reduce their medication
needs and in some cases even reverse their diabetes mellitus.

We propose to encourage this walking by installing user friendly RFID (radio frequency
identification) based ecosystems in public pedestrian areas within which walkers will be able to
effortlessly keep track of the walking they do on a given day, over a week, month, or even a year.
Given that the majority of the American population is now overweight, obese, and underactive with as
much as a third of the current population to become diabetic in its lifetime, the widespread availability
of such RFID ecosystems in public spaces to encourage walking makes sound public health and
economic sense.

RFID reader enhanced running courses already enable thousands of runners to compete
simultaneously in long distance and marathon races without the need to carry any computers, apps,
cellphones, or GPS devices. The runners carry only simple RFID tags attached to their shoelaces.
We propose that such RFID reader enhanced courses become permanent, more numerous and be
adapted so that non-athletes be able to cover and measure shorter distances. Use of our proposed
algorithmic software would turn these courses into genuine walking ecosystems. These ecosystems
would enable walkers to walk longer or shorter distances, in different and opposite directions, and to
take different routes to the same or different locations. This walking could take place at any time of
day convenient to the walker. By carrying later generation active tags powered by thin film batteries,
walkers will be able to walk in a broad range of terrains, even indoors. Automatic uploading of this
information in real time to central servers will free the walker from having to turn on applications, set
programs, or input data of steps walked, etc. to measure and document his walking. Central servers
will automatically store and organize the walking data and provide feedback via voice mail, via text 3
messages, via dedicated websites, or via regular mail statements. The walking measurements could
also be sent in real time to electronic personal and medical records or, if so desired, even to

Bohdan A. Oryshkevich, MD, MPH | bohdan_oryshkevich@verizon.net

Facebook personal profiles. All the information about walking in this system would be stored centrally
making it extremely difficult to violate security. Such a high level of security could even enable the
implementation of incentives and rewards for meeting walking targets. RFID tags contain only serial
numbers so preferred levels of anonymity, privacy, HIPAA, or social interaction can be maintained.
Since the end users need carry only inexpensive tags rather than electronic devices, the system is
inexpensive and can be used by anyone regardless of age or computer literacy. Since RFID tags are
small, they can be integrated into seemingly ordinary identification cards, key fobs, even jewelry.

The proposed RFID ecosystems could be located in parks, along lake and river fronts, along
commuting corridors, in walk to school zones, in corporate parks, in sightseeing areas, in shopping
malls, in amusement parks, and retirement communities. Since RFID tags can be integrated into
contactless public transport fare cards, commuting to work could turn into a genuine walk and ride
experience. Such integration could encourage the commuter to increase his daily walking activity by
encouraging walking to more distant transit stops and getting off transit early in order to walk more on
a regular daily basis. RFID ecosystems can also be installed in areas with a higher prevalence of
obesity or diabetes mellitus in order to encourage community walking programs. These conveniently
located ecosystems would enable walkers to perform, to measure and to quantify their activity as part
of their daily routine, everyday chores, commute to work or school, etc. By making the measurement
of physical activity convenient, almost anyone would be able to set, measure, and achieve, without
hassle, their target exercise goals just by walking and carrying a RFID tag.

One time registration for the system could be done at school, at work, in a doctor’s office, in a
public library, or at home. The measurement of walking done in public places could result in
individual, group, or community walking competitions, games, and events over days, weeks, months
or even a year.

The logic of our approach is supported by the fact that Albuquerque (NM) has instituted
prescription paths in many parts of the city. The Mayo Clinic has installed one mile, 5K and 10K
walking courses in the highly frequented Mall of America (MN). These locations would benefit from
our adaptation of RFID technology. A variety of parks in Europe and Latin America have installed
simple permanent lap (not ecosystem) RFID enhanced running tracks. London’s Regents Park, with
a RFID enhanced lap counting circular running track, even gives out RFID tags to those who show up
for orientation sessions.

Our technology is remarkably inexpensive since the end user need carry only a tag; the
3
system is easy to implement and evaluate. Its benefits, though available to the general population for
the purpose of prevention would be of particular benefit to diabetics in the management of their

Bohdan A. Oryshkevich, MD, MPH | bohdan_oryshkevich@verizon.net

diabetes. Its effectiveness would be measured by the improved fitness, by the improved glucose
control, and by the prevention of the diabetic complications in communities of diabetic patients.

Since this technology is remarkably easy to use it is scalable to the population at large and its
efficiency can be measured directly by the number of walkers using it, by the total distance walked, by
the adoption of similar walking ecosystems around the USA, around the world and by the willingness
of insurance companies, businesses, and government to adopt this technology to encourage walking
on a population-wide scale to stem the tide of the fifth epidemiologic transition, the age of obesity and
inactivity. Because of its simplicity, ease of use, and low cost, our technology to encourage walking
may well be the only one scalable to hundreds of millions of people in both rich and poor countries in
which obesity and type II diabetes mellitus have now affected hundreds of millions.

Two active RFID tags (L and R); RFID reader (C)

Customer side
Abstract side (users that access tracking information)
Client side Sensor side
(cellular network, Internet)
(RFID tags) (RFID readers’ setups)

Users

Physicians
Embedded
ID 1
system

Mobile users
ID 2

RFID reader GSM/EVDO modem Server side

Cellular network (processing and providing
access to tracking information)
Internet

Embedded
system

Cellular operator service

Cellular network
ID 5

ID 1
RFID reader GSM/EVDO modem
ID 4

Cellular network Data processing server Web server

Embedded
system

ID 2

Application server
RFID reader GSM/EVDO modem
ID3
ID 1

Database server

The walkers are represented by RFID tags on the left. RFID readers are part of an embedded system to the
right. In this illustration, the connections from the readers to the servers is via a cellular network.. The servers
on the right provide the data processing units which receive the information from the readers. The database
server stores the information. The application server interprets and adapts the information to other uses such as
web based inspection, social interactions, integration with public transport, school identification, reward card 3
systems, and study of cumulative data. The web server provides the information for website viewing clients
and/or customers. In this illustration the servers communicate with the customers through the Internet.

Contact: Bohdan A. Oryshkevich, MD, MPH, bohdan_oryshkevich@verizon.net at 1-212-785-4170

Bohdan A. Oryshkevich, MD, MPH | bohdan_oryshkevich@verizon.net
 apartments

condos

apartments
condos
park

outdoor mall
FD

condos
fire
house
Food Mart

home

convenience store condos

school

condos

home

hom e

home
t home
hom e

This represents, in highly schematic form, a walking to school program RFID ecosystem. RFID readers are
present at decision points. The ecosystem would also work in the walking to home direction. There is also
nothing in this ecosystem to keep the client from walking from the west or east or from east to the west past the
school to the other end of the ecosystem. There is nothing to keep the client from taking a short cut across a
park and getting credit for it as long as the server is programmed to take that walking into account. The paths
outlined here reflect simply the city streets. In order to increase the options for documentable walking, the
density of the RFID readers can be increased to, in effect, create a veritable grid.

City
Town hall

City

Station
Skyscraper

School

Condos

This city grid provides decision points at every intersection. Decision points need not be present at every 3
intersection. There could also be decision points only along a designated pedestrian walk.

Contact: Bohdan A. Oryshkevich, MD, MPH, bohdan_oryshkevich@verizon.net at 1-212-785-4170

Bohdan A. Oryshkevich, MD, MPH | bohdan_oryshkevich@verizon.net