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

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.