Objetivo
The use of emerging technology for the remote care of the elderly and house-bound.
It is widely recognised that it is important to maintain elderly and disabled people in their homes rather than in institutional care. The potential saving to Health Authorities of return to care in the community is also acknowledged. However to provide supervised care in the community, a social alarm system is required to enable carers to be informed of potential problems.
This project will determine the user needs specification for social alarm services and produce a Pan-European user functional requirement for utilising the developing multimedia technology. Innovative elements defined in this functional specification will be tested within a practical trial.
Technical Approach : The project methodology will be that following the determination of needs, the practical difficulties will be identified. A design will then be developed, verified and then implemented in a pilot demonstration.
In it's early stages the project will concentrate on a user requirements analysis, and, definition of a European system for the monitoring of elderly or disabled persons in the community. This will result in a technical specification, which will emphasise standardisation of system components and communications media.
The project will examine communication problems especially in areas of low density population, and will propose solutions for the application of social alarm services in these areas. Consideration will be given to aspects of privacy, intrusiveness and reliability.
Software and hardware will be developed to provide effective communications via a range of different transmission mediums, allowing contact to be established over dispersed rural areas. Hardware at the user interface will be specifically designed to facilitate ease of operation i.e. requiring a minimum of manual and intellectual dexterity. Universal interface units will be developed to enable single units to communicate into a range of European protocols without modification.
The project will undertake practical trials to prove the viability of the functional specification
Impact and Expected Results : The result of this project will be to provide a system specification that promotes a greater use of multi-network communication systems than currently exists. The impact will be to enhance the use of social alarm systems via the use of this improved functionality and to provide vital information at the fingertips of community carers.
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Data not availableRégimen de financiación
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinador
KT18 5BW Epsom
Reino Unido