1. DEUS
Deployment and Ease Use of wireless Services
Scenario’s for future use:
supporting senior mobility
Main challenges
Due to the greying society, cities and municipalities are studying and implementing new
organizational care provision models in order to support independent living solutions for
the elderly. Moving towards a residential intra-muros care setting is socially and
economically the least preferred solution, although often inevitable and irreversible.
Independent living support however involves more than providing adaptations to the
house environment; it also includes aspects such as providing feelings of comfort and
safety, the feeling of being surrounded at eventual times of need, the alleviation of social
isolation and feelings of loneliness, the automated detection of potential harmful or
dangerous situations, etc…
Specific city areas providing augmented care levels are being depicted to offer a multiple
of services to the inhabitants, depending on the evolving care needs, and still
maintaining the natural character of city live with a mix of the population. Not only
elderly but also citizens with specific needs (one-parent families, people with handicap,
chronically ill) could benefit from these new concepts. The care dispatching function is
then provided by a 24/7 call centre. The concept of these city+ services is shown on the
inset.
Concept of city areas with augmented care services for independent living

2. DEUS
Deployment and Ease Use of wireless Services
A mix of technological solutions already exists in order to support this model of social
service provision, but interoperability and integration strategies are missing. In this way
the optimum technological solutions is often not available and bric-a-brac solutions are
used, resulting in unsatisfactory service levels to the multiple users (care providers,
elderly, involved family and friends).
Deus approach
The specific use case studied by the DEUS project is the one of tracking and tracing of
people based on location and identification of individuals, combined with an emergency
call button. Although several solutions exist for partial support (GPS trackers on mobile
phones for outdoor use, Personal Alarm Systems for indoor use), DEUS studied an
integrated solution for the support of the senior who wants to stay mobile (in- and out-
door) but needs augmented attention and follow-up.
The DEUS approach is based on
• A single and unique system for both in-door and out-door tracking and tracing of
people
• Identification of the elderly user, safeguarding his/her privacy
• An emergency alarm button allowing voice communication (in- and outdoor)
• A low-energy consumption technology for the wearable component in order to
avoid repetitive battery re-charging
• An easy handling technology with no or very limited user interface
• An easy-to use, easy-to deploy technological solution for the care-providers in
view of installation, operation and maintenance
Deus solutions
The DEUS project studied and developed following components in order to support the
senior mobility use case.
Architecture
The inset illustrates the architecture that was developed in order to provide in- and
outdoor location and tracking of people. The technology is based on sensor network
solutions and DEUS developed a hybrid solution in order to offer the adequate precision
needed for this use case. More technical detail is given in the sheet “positioning”.

3. DEUS
Deployment and Ease Use of wireless Services
Architecture for location and tracking of persons
Easy installation and operation
For the use of the indoor and outdoor tracking and tracing of elderly people within an
intra-muros care setting the DEUS planning tool can be used to design and install the
optimum sensor node network configuration. It should be foreseen that all areas are
covered were residential seniors can go, in- and around the building. For example the
garden can be included in the layout, or a nearby green area where elderly tend to
wander or walk with family-visitors.
Easy layout and operation of sensor based positioning systems
Tracking and tracing
When assigning a unique “tag” to every residential elderly, the caregivers can track and
trace the seniors without endangering their privacy. The information in view of linking the
unique tag to a specific person is stored on the central server where the service is being
installed. On the central portal, the caregiver can check at any time were a certain
elderly inhabitant is. Individualised alerts can be generated and forwarded to portable
devices.

4. DEUS
Deployment and Ease Use of wireless Services
This can be very promising service in view of giving people with dementia and/or
wandering behaviour still freedom to wander and walk throughout the premises of the
residential settings (avoiding the need of code-closed doors). An automatic alarm system
can be implemented in order to trigger alarms when a specific senior is wandering to far
off or goes to potential unsafe places (e.g. direction of the street side). These alarms can
be dispatched automatically to any preferred devices, or can trigger action warnings for
the care providers. The profile of this automatic alarm triggering can be defined on an
individual basis (based on the senior’s profile) or on specific contextual information (for
e.g. when a senior is accompanied with a trusted visitor).
Proof-of-concept realization
Within the timeframe of the DEUS project a demonstrator set-up has been realized
illustrating the use of wireless sensor network solutions for the tracking and tracing of
people in an intra-mural care setting, covering a specific floor level and part of the
surrounding garden. Small form factor wearable tags with energy harvesting solutions
were not yet realized within the timeframe of the DEUS project.
Project partners
In cooperation with
IBBT research groups
UGent - IBCN http://www.ibcn.intec.ugent.be
UGent - WiCa http://www.wica.intec.ugent.be
UA - PATS http.www.pats.ua.ac.be
KU Leuven – DistriNet http.www.distrinet.cs.kuleuven.be
KU Leuven – CUO http://ww.soc.kuleuven.be/com/mediac/cuo
UHasselt - EDM http://www.edm.uhasselt.be/