Handbook Of Ambient Assisted Living

The world's population is aging dramatically, and in most countries the cost of care is rising rapidly. We need a system which helps to minimize the onset of chronic conditions which are costly to treat and diminish quality of life, rather than one primarily directed towards the care of the sick. Innovative use of new technologies may be the only way to provide care affordably in future, and to scale that care to far greater numbers as our societies adapt to change. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) can provide a solution. More integration between the health system and life at home and work will benefit everybody, providing better, more holistic lifelong care at lower cost.

This is a broad introductory handbook, covering the major technologies and applications in Ambient Assisted Living (AAL). The book focuses on current state-of-the-art technology and critical analysis, the applications of these technologies and also includes general issues such as usability, accessibility, privacy and ethics.

"This book provides explanations of concepts, processes and acronyms related to different areas, issues and trends in various areas of wireless technologies for ambient assisted living and healthcare, focusing on emerging wireless technologies and innovative wireless solutions for smart home environments"--Provided by publisher.

Smart homes, home automation and ambient-assisted living are terms used to describe technological systems that enrich our living environment and provide means to support care, facilitate well-being and improve comfort. This handbook provides an overview of the domain from the perspective of health care and technology. In Part 1, we set out to describe the demographic changes in society, including ageing, and diseases and impairments which lead to the needs for technological solutions. In Part 2, we describe the technological solutions, ranging from sensor-based networks, components, to communication protocols that are used in the design of smart homes. We also deal will biomedical features which can be measured, and services that can be delivered to end-users as well as the use of social robots. In Part 3, we present best practices in the field. These best practices mainly focus on existing projects in Europe, the USA and Asia, in which people receive help through dedicated technological solutions being part of the continuum of the home environment and care. In Part 4, we describe the preconditions to successful ambient-assisted living, including policies, the roles of professionals and organisational needs, design aspects and human factors, the needs of users, laws, business cases, and education.

Smart homes, home automation and ambient-assisted living are terms used to describe technological systems that enrich our living environment and provide means to support care, facilitate well-being and improve comfort. This handbook provides an overview of the domain from the perspective of health care and technology. In Part 1, we set out to describe the demographic changes in society, including ageing and diseases and impairments which lead to the needs for technological solutions. In Part 2, we describe the technological solutions, ranging from sensor-based networks, components, to communication protocols that are used in the design of smart homes. We also deal will biomedical features which can be measured and services that can be delivered to end-users as well as the use of social robots. In Part 3, we present best practices in the field. These best practices mainly focus on existing projects in Europe, the USA and Asia, in which people receive help through dedicated technological solutions being part of the continuum of the home environment and care.

In this book, leading authors in the field discuss development of Ambient Assisted Living. The contributions have been chosen and invited at the 6th AAL congress, Berlin. It presents new technological developments which support the autonomy and independence of individuals with special needs. As the technological innovation raises also social issues, the book addresses micro and macro economical aspects of assistive systems and puts an additional emphasis on the ethical and legal discussion. The presentation is supported by real world examples and applications.

Addresses an Emerging Shift in Developing Countries The authors and contributors of Ambient Assisted Living have recognized that the demographic profile is changing in many developing countries and have factored in an inversion of the demographic pyramid. The technology of ambient assisted living (AAL), supports the elderly and disabled in their daily routines to allow for safe and independent living for as long as possible. Dedicated to ambient intelligence—electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people—Ambient Assisted Living highlights the technologies that center on the needs of these special interest groups, such as the elderly or people with disabilities. Beneficial to students, practitioners, and users of ambient assisted living (AAL), this text compiles scattered information on the subject, outlines the most important and significant work in related literature, and covers the latest hardware and software for ergonomic design pertaining to AAL. From inception to implementation, the text assesses what has been produced and researched so far and looks for trends and clues for the future. It reviews literature on AAL published since 2007 and describes the main features and areas of products or systems that interlink and improve new or existing technologies and systems. This text: Provides extensive coverage of the applications, software, and information management for AAL Contains an overview of the concepts related to AAL Includes a comprehensive review of the state of the art on pervasive and mobile health (m-health) applications Describes a set of projects and work with scientific relevance in AAL Introduces a framework focused on the monitoring and assistance of elderly persons living alone Discusses a prospective study on technological systems for people with cognitive disabilities Ambient Assisted Living highlights technologies that adapt to the user rather than the user adapting to the technology. This text proposes technologies that can enable assisted persons to live independently for longer and reduce the need for long-term care.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Ambient Assisted Living, IWAAL 2013, held in Carillo, Costa Rica, in December 2013. The 13 full papers and 7 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. The focus of the papers is on following topics: AAL environments, user interaction and assistive solutions, sensing and activity recognition and key application domains.