Designing Wearable Sensing Platforms for Healthcare in a Residential Environment

Wearable technologies are valuable tools that can encourage people to monitor their own well-being and facilitate timely health interventions. In this paper, we present SPW-2; a low-profile versatile wearable sensor that employs two ultra low power accelerometers and an optional gyroscope. Designed for minimum maintenance and a long-term operation outside the laboratory, SPW-2 is able to offer a battery lifetime of multiple months. Measurements on its wireless performance in a real residential environment with thick brick walls, demonstrate that SPW-2 can fully cover a room and in most cases the adjacent room, as well. Received on 31 August 2016; accepted on 05 September 2017; published on 07 September 2017