New Centre Could Make Independent Living a Reality for the Elderly
From: Electronics and Computer Science - 03/15/2007
By: Joyce Lewis

Researchers at the University of Southampton hope to ease the graying
transition in the United Kingdom by developing a low-cost sensor network for
the home that will be able to monitor the health of the elderly. This month
the university will launch the Pervasive Systems Center, which plans to make
a wireless sensor network (WSN) available in the next 18 months that will
provide support for the elderly who want to continue to live independently in
their homes. The researchers envision a network comprised of weight sensors
to detect movement at night, sensors in the bathroom to monitor toilet
facilities for signs of digestive problems, and body imaging and temperature
sensors to provide clues for areas of the body that are giving the elderly
problems. "If we image the body and then attach temperature sensors, say, to
a chair, the parts of the body that are in pain will radiate infra-red and
will be picked up by the sensor," explains David De Roure, a professor in the
School of Electronics & Computer Science who will co-chair the new center.
The university is taking a multidisciplinary approach to the center, which
will draw sensor, wireless communications, computer science, and other
specialists as researchers. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/about/news/1232

Links:
The Pervasive Systems Perspective - from Amorphous Computing to Digital Health
http://www.iam.ecs.soton.ac.uk/seminars/?action=viewpresentation&presentation_id=145

Pervasive Systems Centre
http://www.psc.ecs.soton.ac.uk/

New Pervasive Systems Centre Could Make Independent Living A Reality
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=65468&nfid=rssfeeds

University of Southampton
http://www.soton.ac.uk