Implementation of an “at-home” e-Health system using heterogeneous devices

Systems enabling long-term monitoring of physiological data and everyday activities has been the subject of considerable research efforts in the last years, in order to improve the quality of life of patients, elderly people and common citizens at home, out of the hospitalization. With the availability of inexpensive, low power, wireless and integrated devices, current smart homes are typically equipped with a large amount of sensors, which collaboratively process and make deductions from the acquired data on the state of the home, as well as the activities and behaviors of its residents. According to the field of application and the end-users involved (healthy people, elderly, people with disabilities), the definition of the parameters (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, activity, body mass, etc.) and the appropriate sensors (electrocardiogram, sphygmomanometer, glucometer, etc.) for their acquisition assume a fundamental role. One of the goals of the Italian project Health@Home is to create a network of health sensors and home automation devices to monitor the user's status within the home environment. We present a candidate implementation of such a system, describing the software architecture and the selected components, and a testbed of the architecture, realized in a lab room and used for a preliminary experimental study involving seven users.