Talk at the University of Malaya, July 2012

1. AMBIENT ASSISTED LIVING. ICT FOR THE
SUPPORT OF THE DAILY LIVING OF ELDERLY AND
DISABLED PEOPLE
Francisco (Paco) Flórez Revuelta
20 de julio de
2009

2. Lumpur
Summary
 Presentation
 Ambient Assisted Living
 Projects – Smart homes:
 metalTIC
 DAI Lab
 Virtual DAI Lab
 Current work

3. Presentation

4. Lumpur
Presentation
 Member of the "Domotics and Ambient
Intelligence" research group at the University
of Alicante (Spain)
 Research on ICT for smart environments
(services at home, system integration, efficient
use of energy, ambient assisted living, person-
environment interaction…)
 Development of person-environment
interfaces for the interaction of people with
their environment, paying particular attention
to the support of the independent living of

5. Lumpur
University of Alicante
 1.9 millions inhabitants, 4th most populous
province in Spain
 23.6% of the total population is foreigner
 Main sectors: tourism, agriculture,
manufacturing (shoes, textile, toys,…), marble
quarrying and processing,…

6. Lumpur
Presentation
 Marie Curie fellow at the Digital Imaging
Research Centre, Kingston University (United
Kingdom)
 Project caring4U – A study on people activity
in private spaces: towards a multisensor
network that meets privacy requirements

7. Ambient Assisted Living

8. Lumpur
Current situation of ICT
 Huge progress in development and
deployment:
 Internet
 Wireless communications
 Location-based services
 Home automation and smart environments
 Increased knowledge and use by people
 Important problems with digital divide

9. Lumpur
Holistic vision of technology

10. Lumpur
Holistic vision of technology

11. Lumpur
Holistic vision of technology

12. Lumpur
Smart environments – Ambient
Intelligence
 An AmI system requires the
use of distributed sensors
and actuators to create a
pervasive technological layer,
able to interact transparently
with a user, either passively
by observing and trying to
interpret what the user
actions and intentions are,
but also actively, by learning
the preferences of the user
and adapting the system
parameters to improve the
quality of life and work of the
occupant (Remagnino et al,
2005)

13. FranciscoFlórezRevuelta–23rdJuly,2012–KualaLumpur
Key technologies
 Integration of microprocessors into
everyday objects like furniture,
clothing or toys
Transparency

14. FranciscoFlórezRevuelta–23rdJuly,2012–KualaLumpur
Key technologies
 These objects can communicate
with each other and with the user

15. FranciscoFlórezRevuelta–23rdJuly,2012–KualaLumpur
Key technologies
 Allow user to control and interact
with the environment in natural
(voice, gestures...) and custom
(context, preferences...) ways

16. Lumpur
Interdisciplinary area
Smart
homes
Automation
Computer Science
Telecommmunication
Electronics
ElectricalSociology
Arquitecture
Economics and
Business
Psicology

17. Lumpur
Ambient Assisted Living
 Application of the AmI paradigm to promote
and prolong independent living for older and
disabled people, and their families
“There is no reason for older people in Europe to miss out
on the benefits of new technologies. The solutions and
services resulting from this programme will help them to
remain active in society as well as staying socially
connected and independent for a longer time”
Viviane Reding, former EU Commissioner for the
Information Society and Media

18. Lumpur
Motivation – Social need
 Nowadays population over 65 is 16,61%, and
it is expected to be 21,64% in 2025 and
33,52% in 2050
 There are 3 workers per retired person.
Forecasts ratios are 2-1 in 2030 and near 1-1
in 2050

19. Lumpur
Motivation – Social need
 Survey on Disability, Personal Autonomy and
Dependency – Spain 2008:
 There are 3.8M persons in dependency situation
(8.5% of Spanish population)
 608,000 of dipersons live alone at home
 1.39M persons need some help to do any of the
activities of daily living
 There is a disabled person living in 20% of homes
 30% of people over 65 are disabled, >50% of people
over 80

20. Lumpur
Motivation – Economic need
 Survey on hospital morbility – Spain 2007
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
0
1-4
5-9
10-14
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
75-79
80-84
85-89
90-94
+95
Hospital dischargesper 100,000 people

21. Lumpur
Motivation – Economic need
 Survey on hospital morbidity – Spain 2007
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0
1-4
5-9
10-14
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
75-79
80-84
85-89
90-94
+95
Average stay in hospital (days)

22. Lumpur
Goals of Ambient Assisted
Living
 To extend the time people can live in their preferred
environment by increasing their autonomy, self-confidence
and mobility
 To support maintaining health and functional capability of the
elderly individuals
 To promote a better and healthier lifestyle for individuals at
risk
 To enhance the security, to prevent social isolation and to
support maintaining the multifunctional network around the
individual
 To support carers, families and care organisations
 To increase the efficiency and productivity of used resources

23. Lumpur
Areas of application
 At work:
 Staying active and productive for longer
 Improved quality at work and reconciling work and
family life
 In the community:
 Overcoming the isolation and loneliness
 Maintaining social networks
 Accessing public services
 At home:
 Improved quality of life for longer
 Independence, autonomy and dignity

24. Lumpur
Other characteristics
 Tight relationship between aging and health:
 Often multiple cronic diseases
 Mental and physical deterioration
 Multiple, diverse and changing needs:
 Elderly and disabled people are not an homogeneous
group
 There is a need to adapt the solutions to the individual
needs and capabilities
 Need for an approach for global support:
 Health, but also…
 Security, safety, fall detection, mobility, activities of
daily living…

25. Lumpur
Disabilities
 Visual:
 Total blindness
 Reduced vision
 Problems seeing colours
 Hearing:
 Total/partial deafness
 Prelingual/post-lingual
deafness
 Physical
 Cognitive and
language-related:
 Dyslexia
 Dyscalculia
 Attention disorder or
deficit
 Memory loss
 Mental disability
 Photosensitivity
 Age-related

26. Lumpur
Dependency

27. Projects – Smart Homes

28. Lumpur
metalTIC – smart home
 Project
 Collaboration with FEMPA (Federation of Metal-
working Companies at the Province of Alicante)
 Sponsored by
 European Union (FEDER), Institute for Small and
Medium Industry of the Generalitat Valenciana
(IMPIVA – PCEV)

29. Lumpur
metalTIC – smart home
 Goals
 Innovation
 Source of ideas for enterprises associated with
FEMPA
 Education
 Courses on Communication & Control Technologies,
automation and efficient use of energy
 Research
 Laboratory for testing and application of Person-
Environment interfaces, AAL Services and Human
Behaviour Analysis
 Spreading knowledge to society

30. Lumpur
metalTIC – smart home
 The home is 50 m2 with a living room, kitchen,
bathroom and bedroom; offering services such
as:
 energy management,
 security,
 safety,
 comfort,
 entertainment,
 communications,
 accessibility,…

31. Lumpur
metalTIC – smart home
http://web.ua.es/en/dai/metaltic-digital-home.html

32. Lumpur
Control technologies
 KNX (European standard?)
 LonWorks (American standard?)
 EnOcean (low-cost wireless devices)
 Zigbee (wireless standard)
 DALI (lighting standard)
 CANopen (industrial bus nowadays used for home
automation)
 Fagor (appliances control)
 Integration of all the technologies
with an embedded PC

33. Lumpur
Energy generation
 Photovoltaic solar electricity
 Windmill electricity
 Thermal solar hot water
 Geothermal

34. Lumpur
Person-environment interaction
 Active:
 Switches (wired and wireless)
 Touch display
 TV
 Smartphone
 Wiimote
 Voice
 Kinect
 Pasive:
 Presence sensors
 Cameras
 Coloured lighting

35. Lumpur
metalTIC – smart home
 System Integration
 Independence from the underlying technology
 Both open and proprietary systems
 Interoperability
 Among different Control Technologies and
Communication Protocols
 Control buses, sensors, multimedia devices, etc.
 Transparency for all kinds of interfaces

36. Lumpur
36
Design guidelines
36
Comfort, Security
and Safety
Energy
Management
Control and autonomous
actions based on Expert
Systems
Friendly
Person-
Environment
Interfaces
Accessible
Communication
Services
Telemaintenance,
eHealth, eWork, e…
Monitoring and
Maintenance
Smart Home

37. Lumpur
Comfort, Security
and Safety
Energy
Management
37
Design guidelines
37
Comfort, Security
and Safety
Energy
Management
Control and autonomous
actions based on Expert
Systems
Friendly
Person-
Environment
Interfaces
Accessible
Communication
Services
Telemaintenance,
eHealth, eWork, e…
Monitoring and
Maintenance
Smart Home
We need a design that:
1. Integrates, communicates and
supports interoperability
of all the subsystems
2. Offers support for the
supply of services
Control and autonomous
actions based on Expert
Systems
Friendly
Person-
Environment
Interfaces
Monitoring and
Maintenance

38. Lumpur
38
Design guidelines
38
Comfort, Security
and Safety
Energy
Management
Control and autonomous
actions based on Expert
Systems
Friendly
Person-
Environment
Interfaces
Accessible
Communication
Services
Telemaintenance,
eHealth, eWork, e…
Monitoring and
Maintenance

39. Lumpur
39
Design guidelines
39
Comfort, Security
and Safety
Energy
Management
Control and autonomous
actions based on Expert
Systems
Friendly
Person-
Environment
Interfaces
Accessible
Communication
Services
Telemaintenance,
eHealth, eWork, e…
Monitoring and
Maintenance
Intranet HogarDigital
ControlPC/PLC sobreEthernet

40. Lumpur
40
Design guidelines
40
Comfort, Security
and Safety
Energy
Management
Control and autonomous
actions based on Expert
Systems
Friendly
Person-
Environment
Interfaces
Accessible
Communication
Services
Telemaintenance,
eHealth, eWork, e…
Monitoring and
Maintenance
Intranet HogarDigital
ControlPC/PLC sobreEthernet
DAI MIDDLEWARE

41. Lumpur
41
Design guidelines
41
Comfort, Security
and Safety
Energy
Management
Control and autonomous
actions based on Expert
Systems
Friendly
Person-
Environment
Interfaces
Accessible
Communication
Services
Telemaintenance,
eHealth, eWork, e…
Monitoring and
Maintenance
DAI MIDDLEWARE

42. Lumpur
System architecture

43. Lumpur
Access to functionality
 SOA with REST-based Web Services

44. Lumpur
Access to functionality – Example
LEDs:
ID 1
Turn On/Off
Action: switch <value>
Query: dataSwitch
States: true/false
Regulate intensity
Action: dimming <value>
Query: dataDimmer
States: [0,100]
Example:
• Turn On/Off, Dimmer:
IDAIHome proxy = new IDAIHome();
if(proxy. getAuthorization(“test”, “test”){
proxy. setValueOfDevice(“switch”, 1, “true”);
proxy. setValueOfDevice(“dimming”, 1, “50”);
proxy.Close();
}
• Query state/value:
IDAIHome proxy = new IDAIHome();
if(proxy. getAuthorization(“test”, “test”){
Response a = proxy. getValueOfDevice(“dataSwitch”, 1);
Response b = proxy. getValueOfDevice(“dataDimmer”, 1);
proxy.Close();
}

45. Lumpur
Interfaces for disabled people
 Physical impairment: Person-environment
interaction with voice and ad-hoc gestures
learned by the system according to the level of
disability
 Visual impairment: Interaction with voice and
accessible mobile interface
 Hearing impairment: Information with colour
codes (technical and security alarms, access
control...)
 Cognitive impairment: The smart home is
prepared to easily adapt the interfaces
incorporating augmentative and alternative

46. Lumpur
Interfaces – examples
 Voice control

47. Lumpur
Interfaces – examples
 Mobile device:

48. Lumpur
Interfaces – examples
 Main interaction system (touch display, TV,
PC):

49. Lumpur
DAI lab
 Research laboratory at the University of
Alicante
 Emphasis on human activity analysis and
person-environment interaction
http://web.ua.es/en/dai/dai-lab.html

50. Lumpur
Virtual DAI lab
 Problems:
 Initial tests are not possible in the real lab
 Overlapping between works of different researchs
 Difficult to work with end-users throughout the
projects
 Solution:
 Virtual lab that replicates the behaviour of the real
labs
 Uses the same middleware. So, developments
tested in the virtual lab are directly usable in the
real labs

51. Lumpur
Virtual DAI lab
http://web.ua.es/en/dai/dai-virtual-lab.html

52. Lumpur
Virtual DAI lab
 Coming soon
 AmI Services Graphical Design Tool
 Simulation of energy consumptions
 Simulation of presence and activity
 Simulation of temperature, time of day, etc.
 In the medium term
 DAI Virtual Labs Designer
 Future
 Design and Development Tool for Intelligent
Environments

53. Lumpur
DAI group in the web
http://web.ua.es/dai

54. Current work

55. Lumpur
Monitoring people at home
 Activities that can be detected:
 Recognition of activities of daily living (ADL): wake-up,
going to the toilet, sleeping…
 Activity level: light, moderate, intensive
 Location and tracking of the person inside the home
 Risky situations: fall detection, dangerous objects;
fire, flood, gas alarms…
 Social activity: leaving home, receiving visits, use of
telephone…
 Detection of basic and advanced activities: cooking,
watching TV…
 Person-environment interaction

56. Lumpur
Monitoring people at home
 These systems are composed of multi-sensor
networks to extract knowledge in order to:
 Detect anomalous behaviours
 Launch alarms to caregivers (professionals or
informal carers)
 Current ambient assisted spaces make use of
a collection of simpler sensors that try to get
information from the environment
 However, this information is incomprehensible
to a caregiver

57. Lumpur
Monitoring people at home
 Computer vision is essential for surveillance
and safety tasks
 Visual information is commonly the most
natural way of describing an event, a
person, an object, actions and interactions
 But, not only for the detection of activities. Also
to give the possibility of watching the assisted
person at their home in order to ensure that
they are alright and whether or not they need
help

58. Lumpur
Privacy preservation
 Appropriate measures need to be considered
to preserve dignity and maintain privacy and
confidentiality
 We are working with different types of
cameras: omni-directional, stereo, infrared,
kinect
 Establishing a compromise between activity to
be recognised and privacy required

59. AMBIENT ASSISTED LIVING. ICT FOR THE
SUPPORT OF THE DAILY LIVING OF ELDERLY AND
DISABLED PEOPLE
Francisco (Paco) Flórez Revuelta – F.Florez@kingston.ac.uk
20 de julio de
2009