Design of an unobtrusive system for fall detection in multiple occupancy residences

Author

Ariani, Arni ; Redmond, Stephen J. ; Zhang, Zhenhao ; Narayanan, Michael R. ; Lovell, Nigel H.

Author_Institution

Grad. Sch. of Biomed. Eng., Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

fYear

2013

fDate

3-7 July 2013

Firstpage

4690

Lastpage

4693

Abstract

A small trial was conducted to examine the feasibility of detecting falls using a combination of ambient passive infrared (PIR) and pressure mat (PM) sensors in a home with multiple occupants. The key tracking method made use of graph theoretical concepts to track each individual in the residence and to monitor them independently for falls. The proposed algorithm attempts to recognize falls where the subject experiences a hard fall on an indoor surface that leads to loss of consciousness or an inability to get up from the floor without assistance, due to severe injuries. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the algorithm in detecting falls are 85.00%, 80.00% and 82.86%, respectively.

Keywords

biomechanics; biomedical measurement; graph theory; infrared detectors; injuries; pressure sensors; ambient passive infrared sensors; consciousness; fall detection; graph theoretical concepts; home; indoor surface; injuries; multiple occupancy residences; pressure mat sensors; tracking; unobtrusive system design; Accuracy; Educational institutions; Injuries; Monitoring; Senior citizens; Sensor systems;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE

Conference_Location

Osaka

ISSN

1557-170X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/EMBC.2013.6610594

Filename

6610594