Possibilities of simple IoT system for monitoring elderly people living alone

In order to monitor elderly people living alone, the authors constructed a simple daily monitoring system combining multiple wireless acceleration sensors, a wireless module, a microcomputer, and a cloud-based internet of things (IoT) service. The movements of objects in daily life were continuously recorded by detecting activations of the acceleration sensors of this system. By analyzing the acquired data, the daily life pattern of subjects, such as wake time, sleep time, and meal time, could be estimated. When interviewed, municipal welfare officers commented that these data would be useful for monitoring the daily life of elderly people.