A High Reliability Wearable Device for Elderly Fall Detection

Falls are critical events among elderly people that requires timely rescue. In this paper, we propose a fall detection system consisting of an inertial unit that includes triaxial accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer with efficient data fusion and fall detection algorithms. Starting from the r...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE sensors journal Vol. 15; no. 8; pp. 4544 - 4553
Main Authors Pierleoni, Paola, Belli, Alberto, Palma, Lorenzo, Pellegrini, Marco, Pernini, Luca, Valenti, Simone
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.08.2015
Subjects
Acceleration
Accelerometer
Accelerometers
Fall detection
Gyroscope
Gyroscopes
Magnetic sensors
Magnetometer
Magnetometers
MARG sensor
MEMS
Protocols
Wearable sensors
fall detection
magnetometer
MARG sensor
Accelerometer
MEMS
wearable sensors
gyroscope
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Falls are critical events among elderly people that requires timely rescue. In this paper, we propose a fall detection system consisting of an inertial unit that includes triaxial accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer with efficient data fusion and fall detection algorithms. Starting from the raw data, the implemented orientation filter provides the correct orientation of the subject in terms of yaw, pitch, and roll angles. The system is tested according to experimental protocols, engaging volunteers who performed simulated falls, simulated falls with recovery, and activities of daily living. By placing our wearable sensor on the waist of the subject, the unit is able to achieve fall detection performance above those of similar systems proposed in literature. The results obtained through commonly adopted protocols show excellent accuracy, sensitivity and specificity, improving the results of other techniques proposed in the literature.
ISSN:1530-437X
1558-1748
DOI:10.1109/JSEN.2015.2423562