Fall detection system for elderly with GSM communication and GPS localization

Falls in the elderly represent a very common danger for their health and an important cause of death for people over 65 years old. If an old person falls and doesn´t get medical assistance in one hour, the injuries caused by the fall can lead to death after only 6 months. The sooner a fall is detected and the faster the medical personnel offer assistance, the more the mortality rate decreases. This article presents a fall detection system based on a tri-axial accelerometer, which also provides GPS (Global Positioning System) localization and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) wireless communication. This way, in case a fall is detected, family, social care assistants and/or medical personnel are quickly alerted and can easily intervene, knowing the patient´s exact location. Also, this paper presents an algorithm for fall detection, which can be easily implemented in a microcontroller.