Using Low-Resolution Non-Invasive Infrared Sensors to Classify Activities and Falls in Older Adults

Sensors

Gastón Márquez¹  Claudio Reyes²  Alejandro Veloz³  Jean-Gabriel Minonzio⁴  Carla Taramasco⁵  Esteban Calvo⁶ 

[1] Departamento de Electrónica e Informática, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Concepción 4030000, Chile;Ecoframe SpA, Temuco 4780000, Chile;Escuela de Ingeniería Civil Biomédica & Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería en Salud, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2340000, Chile;Escuela de Ingeniería Informática & Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería en Salud, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2340000, Chile;Escuela de Ingeniería Informática, Universidad de Valparaíso & Millennium Nucleus on SocioMedicine, Valparaíso 2340000, Chile;Society and Health Research Center, Laboratory on Aging and Social Epidemiology & Millennium Nucleus on SocioMedicine, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Artes, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 7560908, Chile;

关键词: fall;    older adult;    infrared sensor;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s22062321

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The population is aging worldwide, creating new challenges to the quality of life of older adults and their families. Falls are an increasing, but not inevitable, threat to older adults. Information technologies provide several solutions to address falls, but smart homes and the most available solutions require expensive and invasive infrastructures. In this study, we propose a novel approach to classify and detect falls of older adults in their homes through low-resolution infrared sensors that are affordable, non-intrusive, do not disturb privacy, and are more acceptable to older adults. Using data collected between 2019 and 2020 with the eHomeseniors platform, we determine activity scores of older adults moving across two rooms in a house and represent an older adult fall through skeletonization. We find that our twofold approach effectively detects activity patterns and precisely identifies falls. Our study provides insights to physicians about the daily activities of their older adults and could potentially help them make decisions in case of abnormal behavior.

【 授权许可】

Unknown