Evolution of an eldercare technology system to monitor motion and detect falls

• Main Authors: Tyrer, H. W., Aud, M., Neelgund, R., Shriniwar, U., Devarakonda, K. K.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Aluminum; Floors; Monitoring; Prototypes; Sensor systems
• DOI: 10.1109/HEALTH.2011.6026733

Falls are a major cause of injuries in the elderly, and in some cases, these injuries may be fatal. We are developing a system to monitor the elderly and detect falls. We used a novel technique of signal scavenging to detect presence of the person. Aluminum foil sensors on two faux floor, one sized 1m × 1m (3feet × 3feet) and the other 2.3m × 1m (7feet × 3feet) provided a signal when activated by steeping on the foil. The noisy sensor signal was conditioned and converted into digital format, the digital signal was interfaced to a micro-controller and displayed on a PC. Graphical analysis with ROC space and personal experience with utilization of the faux floor system gave us confidence to develop a full size floor, 3.6m × 3.6m (12feet × 12feet). The results obtained on both floor showed a high degree of sensitivity, with low false positive and false negative rates. Observed problems like cross-talk, noise interference and abrupt output behavior of the sensor system were avoided with careful manufacturing of the flooring. With the development of the full floor, we can create a prototype with high reliability, high accuracy to detect motion, and can be used for further research.