An integrated motion sensing mattress for elderly living assistance applications

For elderly people living in homes or nursing homes, the bed is an indispensable part of their daily lives. Bed activity monitoring provides valuable information of the status of the elderly people. Various sensors have been implemented for this purpose, such as static charge sensitive bed [1] , force sensors [2] , air cushion [3] , and textile-based sensors [4] . This paper presents the development of an integrated sensing mattress, “SmartPad”, for unobtrusive sensing of physical activities in the bed. Working with a bedding manufacturer, this research aims to design a mattress with motion sensing capability using the same material and fabrication process of the bedding manufacturer, so that the mattress is comfortable, washable, inexpensive, and is closer to being a commercial product.