Pervasive Networks and Ubiquitous Monitoring for Wellness Monitoring in Residential Aged Care
It is becoming more critical for developed countries to deliver long-term and financially sustainable healthcare services to an expanding ageing population, especially in the area of residential aged care. There is a general consensus that innovations in the area of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are key enabling technologies for reaching this goal. The major focus of this chapter is on WSN design considerations for ubiquitous wellness monitoring systems in residential aged care facilities. The major enabling technologies for building a pervasive WSN will be explored, including details on sensor design, wireless communication protocols and network topologies. Also examined are various data processing methods and knowledge management tools to support the collection of sensor data and their subsequent analysis for health assessment. Future systems that incorporate the two aspects of wellness monitoring, vital signs and activities of daily living (ADL) monitoring, will also be introduced.