Testing of a long-term fall detection system incorporated into a custom vest for the elderly

Author

Bourke, Alan K. ; van de Ven, Pepijn W.J. ; Chaya, Amy E. ; ÓLaighin, Gearoid M. ; Nelson, John

Author_Institution

Wireless Access Research Centre, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Limerick, Ireland

fYear

2008

fDate

20-25 Aug. 2008

Firstpage

2844

Lastpage

2847

Abstract

A fall detection system and algorithm, incorporated into a custom designed garment has been developed. The developed fall detection system uses a tri-axial accelerometer to detect impacts and monitor posture. This sensor is attached to a custom designed vest, designed to be worn by the elderly person under clothing. The fall detection algorithm was developed and incorporates both impact and posture detection capability. The vest and fall algorithm was tested by two teams of 5 elderly subjects who wore the sensor system in turn for 2 week each and were monitored for 8 hours a day.

Keywords

Accelerometers; Algorithm design and analysis; Clothing; Europe; Event detection; Materials testing; Monitoring; Performance evaluation; Senior citizens; System testing; Acceleration; Accidental Falls; Aged; Algorithms; Biomechanics; Clothing; Computers, Handheld; Equipment Design; Humans; Materials Testing; Monitoring, Ambulatory; Movement; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2008. EMBS 2008. 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE

Conference_Location

Vancouver, BC

ISSN

1557-170X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1814-5

Electronic_ISBN

1557-170X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.2008.4649795

Filename

4649795