Capfloor

Indoor localisation is an important part of integrated AAL solutions, providing continuous service to elderly people. They are able to fulfil multiple purposes, ranging from energy saving or location-based reminders to burglary detection. Combined systems that include localisation are particularly useful, as well as additional services e.g. fall detection. Capacitive sensing systems that allow the detection of the presence of a body over distance are a possible solution for indoor localisation that has been used in the past. However the installation requirements are usually high and consequently they are expensive to integrate. We propese a flexible, integrated solution based on affordable, open-source hardware that allows indoor localisation and fall detection, specifically designed for challenges in the context of AAL. The system is composed of sensing mats that can be placed under various types of floor covering that wirelessly transmit data to a central platform, providing localisation and fall detection services to connect to AAL platforms.