Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications Volume 2008, Article ID 290431, 9 pages doi:10.1155/2008/290431 Research Article PATHOS: Pervasive at Home Sleep Monitoring Ian Obermiller and Sheikh I. Ahamed Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Department, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Sheikh I. Ahamed, sheikh.ahamed@mu.edu Received 16 October 2007; Accepted 15 January 2008 Recommended by Sajid Hussain Sleeping disorders aﬀect a large percentage of the population, and many of them go undiagnosed each year because the method of diagnosis is to stay overnight at a sleep center. Because pervasive technologies have become so prevalent and aﬀordable, sleep monitoring is no longer conﬁned to a permanent installation, and can therefore be brought directly into the user home. We present a unique solution to the problem of home sleep monitoring that has the possibility to take the place of and expand on the data from a sleep center. PATHOS focuses not only on analyzing patterns during the night, but also on collecting data about the subject lifestyle that is relevant and important to the diagnosis of his/her sleep. PATHOS means “evoking emotion.” Here, we mean Pathos will help us to keep healthy: both mentally and physically. Our solution uses existing technology to keep down cost and is completely wireless in order to provide portability and be easily to customize. The daytime collection also utilizes existing technology and oﬀers a wide range of input methods to suit any type of person. We also include an in-depth look at the hardware we used to implement and the software providing user interaction. Our system is not only a viable alternative to a sleep center, it also provides functions that a static, short-term solution cannot provide, allowing for a more accurate diagnosis and treatment. Copyright © 2008 I. Obermiller and S. I. Ahamed. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1. INTRODUCTION Sleep problems aﬀect more than 70 million people in the United States alone [1]. Yet, the public as a whole is largely unaware of the causes and consequences of the disorder that one in four people have. Additionally, the majority of sleep disorders go undiagnosed and untreated. Sleep disorders range from snoring to insomnia, and can be as serious as obstructive sleep apnea, when a person stops breathing multiple times during the night. Because sleep problems cost Americans over $100 billion a year in lost productivity and medical expenses, it is imperative that more people are diagnosed and treated for such a common illness. Sleeping disorders are usually diagnosed only when a person goes to a sleep center to have diagnostics taken over night. During such a study, known as a polysomnogram, a patient goes to a sleep center, spends around 45 minutes getting hooked up to a machine via electrodes, sensory belts, a microphone, and various other sensors. After the process, which is painless and made to be as nonintrusive as possible, the patient goes to sleep and the numbers are gathered. There is no doubt that this method of sleep monitoring works, or that it is the main mode of diagnosing many important sleeping disorders. However, sleep centers have several drawbacks, including cost, time, and environment. In order for a truly universal system for monitoring sleep and diagnosing disorders to become a reality, it must be moved from the center to the home. Although this is not a new idea, the technology has only recently caught up with the proposal. There is a continual research to improve the sensors used in polysomnography. Researchers at the University of Aizu [2], for example, have created an under-pillow sensor to measure respiratory rhythm and pulse during sleep. A more complete system, with more sensors, has been designed at the University of Cairo [3] and is presented with a detailed hardware design. The University of Washington [4] has researched using inexpensive multimodal sensors to detect sleep conditions in a completely noninvasive manner. The majority of previous research in the area of poly- somnography technology has been directed toward the development hardware designs that would be more practical in a sleep center than in a home. The aim of the project at the University of Cairo [3], however, was a home monitoring solution, but its purpose was mainly to decide whether or