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Review

Wearable Fall Detectors Based on Low Power Transmission Systems: A Systematic Review

1
Programa de Ingeniería Electrónica, Universidad de Investigación y Desarrollo (UDI), Bucaramanga 680001, Colombia
2
Departamento de Tecnología Electrónica, Instituto TELMA, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Technologies 2024, 12(9), 166; https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies12090166
Submission received: 3 July 2024 / Revised: 29 August 2024 / Accepted: 11 September 2024 / Published: 13 September 2024

Abstract

Early attention to individuals who suffer falls is a critical aspect when determining the consequences of such accidents, which are among the leading causes of mortality and disability in older adults. For this reason and considering the high number of older adults living alone, the development of automatic fall alerting systems has garnered significant research attention over the past decade. A key element for deploying a fall detection system (FDS) based on wearables is the wireless transmission method employed to transmit the medical alarms. In this regard, the vast majority of prototypes in the related literature utilize short-range technologies, such as Bluetooth, which must be complemented by the existence of a gateway device (e.g., a smartphone). In other studies, standards like Wi-Fi or 3G communications are proposed, which offer greater range but come with high power consumption, which can be unsuitable for most wearables, and higher service fees. In addition, they require reliable radio coverage, which is not always guaranteed in all application scenarios. An interesting alternative to these standards is Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies, which minimize both energy consumption and hardware costs while maximizing transmission range. This article provides a comprehensive search and review of that works in the literature that have implemented and evaluated wearable FDSs utilizing LPWAN interfaces to transmit alarms. The review systematically examines these proposals, considering various operational aspects and identifying key areas that have not yet been adequately addressed for the viable implementation of such detectors.
Keywords: LPWAN; wearable devices; fall detection; LoRaWAN; Sigfox; NB-IoT LPWAN; wearable devices; fall detection; LoRaWAN; Sigfox; NB-IoT

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MDPI and ACS Style

Villa, M.; Casilari, E. Wearable Fall Detectors Based on Low Power Transmission Systems: A Systematic Review. Technologies 2024, 12, 166. https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies12090166

AMA Style

Villa M, Casilari E. Wearable Fall Detectors Based on Low Power Transmission Systems: A Systematic Review. Technologies. 2024; 12(9):166. https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies12090166

Chicago/Turabian Style

Villa, Manny, and Eduardo Casilari. 2024. "Wearable Fall Detectors Based on Low Power Transmission Systems: A Systematic Review" Technologies 12, no. 9: 166. https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies12090166

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