Smart Home Care System with Fall Detection Based on the Android Platform

In this paper, the authors propose a smart home-care system built on an Android smartphone. The database and application programming interface (API) are set up on the server side. The database collects information from various sensors and stores it, and the API acts as a bridge between the mobile phone and the database. The API prevents the leakage of private data. In the associated Android smartphone app, two functions are provided: instant monitoring based on in-home sensor data and fall detection using the three-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, and orientation sensor inbuilt into the smartphone. When the sensor data are abnormal, the remote controller is notified immediately. Moreover, the remote controller can view real-time images by using an IP camera to guarantee home safety. As for fall detection, given that falls cause severe injuries in elder people and children, the proposed app can detect a fall event, send a help message, and indicate the user’s location by using the global positioning system and Google Maps API. According to the simulation results obtained in this study, the proposed system exhibited a fall-detection sensitivity of 92.5% and specificity of 97.6%, thus proving that the system can be effectively used for home care.