Design and implementation of a fall monitor system by using a 3-axis accelerometer in a smart phone

Author

Ying-Wen Bai ; Siao-Cian Wu ; Cheng-Lung Tsai

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Fu Jen Catholic Univ., Taipei, Taiwan

Volume

58

Issue

4

fYear

2012

fDate

11/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1269

Lastpage

1275

Abstract

In this paper we use the accelerometer of a smart phone to design and implement a fall monitor with GPS function for the user. We not only analyze the change of acceleration but also analyze the six typical actions of humans. These are going upstairs, going downstairs, standing up, sitting down, running and jumping. Then we compare the six actions with the characteristics of a fall. These are weightlessness, impact, immobility and overturning of the body. Our design is based on an open source system platform and the accelerometer in the smart phone. If there has been a fall motion our design provides the GPS functionality to obtain the location of the user and draws the help path on both the smart phones and the computers of his family, friends or help center immediately.

Keywords

Global Positioning System; accelerometers; biomechanics; biomedical equipment; computerised monitoring; medical computing; patient care; smart phones; 3-axis accelerometer; GPS function; computers; downstairs; fall monitor system; human six typical action; immobility; jumping; open source system platform; running; sitting down; smart phone; standing up; Acceleration; Accelerometers; Global Positioning System; Intelligent sensors; Monitoring; Smart phones; Fall Detection; GPS; Smart Phone;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Consumer Electronics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0098-3063

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TCE.2012.6414995

Filename

6414995