Low birth rates and higher life expectancy are transforming the composition of the world population, with a marked transition towards a much older population structure. The average age growing of the urban population, with an increasing number of 65+ citizens, is calling for the cities to provide global services specifically geared to elderly people. In this context, collecting data from the elderly’s environment and his/her habits and making them available in a structured way to third parties for analysis, is the first step towards the realization of innovative user-centric services. IoT technological advancements lead to smart objects being capable of identifying, locating, sensing and connecting and thus leading to new forms of communication between people and things and things themselves.
China mobile and its partners have delivered an IoT based Ambient Assisted Living(AAL) or Homecare system which aims to help the elderly residents especially living alone in communities. It can alert users of potential health risks, such as the increased risk of falling, the possibility of dehydration and other health conditions. Early detection of such risks is a proactive way to prevent more serious complications. Prevention is better than recovery. How this AAL homecare system works will be discussed next.
China Mobile Corp. is the leading telecommunications services provider in Mainland China. More details about this famous corporation can be found on its official website. As the Internet of Things (IoT) is the logical further development of today’s Internet, China mobile has got involved in IoT services development. China Mobile provides IoT data services in the AAL system, allowing data sampled from various sensors be sent to internet or cloud platforms.
Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) encompasses technical systems to support elderly people and people with special needs in their daily routine. The main goal of AAL is to maintain and foster the autonomy of those people and, thus, to increase safety in their lifestyle and in their home environment. The fields of needs for elderly people in AAL or Homecare applications include Health, Safety/Security, Mobility and environmental parameters, etc.
Dusun IoT edge computing gateway powered by Zigbee3.0/Z-Wave
The China Mobile AAL system has started tried in some communities in Hangzhou, China. Figure 2 shows the real scenario that the system is applied. Figure 3 is the regional health information platform which can be used to manage and check user information. Figure 4 is the mobile App for the system which can be used by the old people or their relatives to check the sensors data reported and then analyzed by the system.
IoT gateways sit at the intersection of IoT systems -connected devices, controllers and sensors – and the cloud or platform. It plays an important role in the AAL system. Dusun’s IoT gateways have the following products functionalities and advantages:
Dusun has developed IoT smart home sensors for more than 6 years. These sensors suit the needs for the AAL system. Besides, the smart home sensors support the following features: