A smart sensor to detect the falls of the elderly

Author

Sixsmith, Andrew ; Johnson, Neil

Author_Institution

Liverpool Univ., UK

Volume

3

Issue

2

fYear

2004

Firstpage

42

Lastpage

47

Abstract

Falls are a major health hazard for the elderly and a major obstacle to independent living. The estimated incidence of falls for both institutionalized and independent persons aged over 75 is at least 30 percent per year. In the SIMBAD (Smart Inactivity Monitor using Array-Based Detectors) project, we´ve developed an intelligent fall detector based on a low-cost array of infrared detectors. A field trial and user research indicate that SIMBAD could significantly enhance the functionality and effectiveness of existing monitoring systems and community alarm systems.

Keywords

array signal processing; biosensors; geriatrics; health care; image motion analysis; image sensors; infrared detectors; intelligent sensors; patient monitoring; SIMBAD project; Smart Inactivity Monitor using Array-Based Detectors project; community alarm system; elderly fall detection; health hazard; infrared detector array; intelligent fall detector; monitoring system; smart sensor; Aging; Frequency estimation; Infrared detectors; Infrared sensors; Intelligent sensors; Medical services; Monitoring; Motion detection; Senior citizens; Sensor arrays;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Pervasive Computing, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-1268

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MPRV.2004.1316817

Filename

1316817