An integrated fall and mobility sensor and wireless health signs monitoring system

In this paper the integration of a fall and mobility sensor with a health signs monitoring system is described. In a previous version of the system, which was used in trials with elderly volunteers in Ancona, Italy, health signs were monitored with stand-alone commercially available sensors. Additionally, mobility of the elderly was monitored using a custom-built fall and mobility sensor. After successful completion of these trials, several health signs sensors, including the aforementioned fall and mobility sensor, are now integrated in one device. The integration will solve several issues identified in the previous trials. User acceptance, for example, relies heavily on the number of devices used whereas medical significance of the sensor system hinges on the ability to measure a significant number of parameters. Furthermore a significant advantage can be obtained by validating measurements using mobility data obtained with the fall and mobility sensor. The thus obtained context awareness significantly increases reliability of the health signs automatically gathered by the sensor suite. This paper describes the development of the integrated system.