PRE2016 3 Groep10
Advanced Elderly Emergency System (A.E.E.S.)
Design team
Name | Student ID | Department |
Steef Reijntjes | 0944701 | Electrical Engineering |
Pieter van Loon | 0861532 | Software Science |
Ken Hommen | 0911594 | Industrial Engineering |
Man-Hing Wong | 0944285 | Electrical Engineering |
Lennard Buijs | 0959903 | Mechanical Engineering |
Bram Grooten | 0885158 | Applied Mathematics |
Introduction
Problem statement
Problem
In the Netherlands we have more and more elderly people. For them it can be more difficult to balance themselves when standing or walking, so it regularly happens that they fall. When they do, they often have trouble standing up. Also, they have a higher chance of injuries, with hip fractures being the most common.[1] The problem especially arises if these elderly are severely injured by a fall, and therefore can't get up to reach for help.
Solution
A device that should be worn by, mostly, elderly that detects when one has fallen. It can automatically send a warning to ‘ICE’-persons or even call 112. Automatically sending its location along with it. A microphone and camera can in this case be used to observe the situation even faster. By connecting the device to the internet, this all can be made possible even faster. Also the device can ‘ask’ questions to the owner in case of emergency, which can be answered by simply talking back.
Requirements
- Wearable
- Belt clip
- Wrist band
- Necklace
- Speech recognition
- Speak to the user
- GPS to track location
- Internet and phone connections
- Call emergency services
- Contact next of kin
- Share location with next of kin
- Sensors
- Accelerometer, barometer and gyroscope to detect falling
- Air quality measuring sensor
- Button to manually trigger emergency state
Research
State of the art
Medical Alert Systems
Currently there a few different wearable emergency devices for elderly. All of them have slightly different functions. Firstly, there is the Medical Guardian.[2] The Medical Guardian is considered the best medical alert system available.[3] The Medical Guardian (Premium) is a medical alert system that can be worn as an arm wrist, belt or necklace and has the following features:
- Fall detection that will call for help when the patient has fallen
- A button that will call for help and contacts you with an employee of Medical Guardian
- GPS-tracking
- Heat-sensor in case of fire
Fall detection
The fall detection is most important to this research, since it is one of the main features of the Advanced Elderly Emergency System. Currently, most fall detection systems utilise accelerometers and gyroscopes.[4] With these sensors the movement of the patient can be measured. A sudden change of direction can then be also be measured and calculated. This is further explained in chapter " ".
Most sensors have a certain waiting time before calling for help, because it checks for movement after a possible fall. If the patient moves, the system will not call for help. When an AI is added to the system, this waiting time can be reduced a lot, because the AI can ask the patient whether he or she has fallen.
Speech recognition
Speech recognition is another important feature of the Advanced Elderly Emergency System. There are many applications for speech recognition. A very known software is Siri. Siri is able to recognise one's voice and hear what the person is asking.
Objectives
To effectively and succesfully end this project, a list of objectives is created to ensure weekly improvements, which will help in obtaining a final product. List of objectives:
- Research state-of-the-art technology
- Establish list of requirements
- Design the system that follows every requirement
- Create a final presentation, explaining our design
Approach
USE Aspects
The user of the Advanced Elderly Emergency System are the elderly. Since the number of elderly is increasing, more elderly people will need a way of calling for help when an emergency occurs. Nowadays an elder may have an arm wrist or necklace which has a button to call for help. However, in the future, there will be too many elderly for the number of nurses or doctors. By asking questions, the doctor's job will be easier, which means it will also help the enterprise.
Literature
- ...source 1...
- ...source 2...
- ...source 3...
- .........
Urls
- Medical guardian emergency system
- https://www.medicalguardian.com/product/premium-guardian
- The Best Medical Alert Systems of 2017
- http://www.toptenreviews.com/health/senior-care/best-medical-alert-systems/
- Speech recognition library
- http://arjo129.github.io/uSpeech/
Appendices
This section gives an overview of the progression and planning of our design project. This mainly concerns organizational as well as technical tasks, decisions and ideas that have been performed within our project environment to maintain a successfull and appropriate end result. Explanations on how certain decisions has been made by our design team can be found in the following, relevant sections:
- Appendix A - Project progress (log)
- Appendix B - Planning
Citations
- ↑ 10 Topics in reducing harm from falls http://www.hqsc.govt.nz/assets/Falls/10-Topics/topic1-falls-in-older-people-15-April-2014.pdf
- ↑ Medical Guardian website https://www.medicalguardian.com/product/premium-guardian
- ↑ LiveScience's top 3 medical alert systems http://www.livescience.com/43016-best-medical-alert-systems.html
- ↑ Toptenreviews explaining fall detection sensors http://www.toptenreviews.com/health/senior-care/best-fall-detection-sensors/