Ambient intelligence for ubiquitous health and wellbeing

Excerpt

The effects of age-related decline prevent many people from enjoying full, independent, productive, and high-quality lives. Smart Homes have been proposed as an innovative solution in an attempt to address these issues in an effort to provide support to both elderly and people with disabilities in their daily life. In addition, Smart Homes technologies (ubiquitous computing) can be used as means to improve both the quality of care and wellbeing of dependent people. In one hand, ubiquitous health-based applications involving monitoring and processing of vital signs and enabling a rapid intervention in case of emergency are expected to become crucial services. In other hand, assistive services could provide a strong impact on the wellbeing of people. With such an approach, two main issues may be addressed: first, the person can remain within their own home and be safe and secure for an extended period of time, and second, offer a reformed approach for the way in which healthcare is delivered and managed. Embedded within these visions of creating a smart environment within which people can live for an extended period of time emerges the notion of ambient intelligent technologies. These technologies offer promising prospects to assist people with special needs. Nevertheless, they are an emerging research field which faces numerous challenges. …