Deploying mobile middleware for the monitoring of elderly people with the internet of things: A case study

Abstract

The ageing population and related diseases represent some of the most relevant challenges in the healthcare domain. All that will lead to an increasing demand of innovative solutions in order to guarantee a healthy and safe lifestyle to the elderly. In fact, many researchers are studying the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in the e-health field. In this paper we report a case study where a locale middleware for portable devices has been used to facilitate the development of IoT mobile application in this respect, allowing the communication among different on board sensing technologies. The mobile middleware is built on top of the WoX (Web of Topics) platform and quickly permits the deployment of innovation services thanks to its abstraction and user centric model. A validation test bed involving 31 elderly people living in Lecce (Italy) has been carried out for the monitoring of their activities, mainly those connected to positioning and motility both in indoor and outdoor scenarios. Our approach has demonstrated a practical way to replace obtrusive monitoring technique (typical of caregivers) with unobtrusive ones, in order to obtain proactive intervention strategies for a smart city.