Intelligent health monitoring using smart meters

Abstract

Worldwide, the number of people living with self-limiting conditions, is increasing. The resulting strain on healthcare resources means that providing 24-h monitoring for patients is a challenge. As this problem escalates, caring for an ageing population will become more demanding over the next decade, and the need for new, innovative and cost effective home monitoring technologies are now urgently required. In the UK, a national rollout of smart meters is underway. Energy suppliers are committed to the installation and configuration of over 50 million smart meters by 2020. Smart meters enable detailed monitoring of energy usage. The research presented in this paper provides an innovative approach, which addresses the limitations of current Ambient Assistive Living technologies. The approach demonstrates that the detection of both normal and abnormal patient behaviour is possible by correlating the detection of individual electrical appliances and mapping them to an individual’s Activities of Daily Living.