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Review
. 2021 May 19;21(10):3549.
doi: 10.3390/s21103549.

Ambient Assisted Living: A Review of Technologies, Methodologies and Future Perspectives for Healthy Aging of Population

Grazia Cicirelli  1 , Roberto Marani  1 , Antonio Petitti  1 , Annalisa Milella  1 , Tiziana D'Orazio  1
Affiliations
Review

Ambient Assisted Living: A Review of Technologies, Methodologies and Future Perspectives for Healthy Aging of Population

Grazia Cicirelli et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Over the last decade, there has been considerable and increasing interest in the development of Active and Assisted Living (AAL) systems to support independent living. The demographic change towards an aging population has introduced new challenges to today's society from both an economic and societal standpoint. AAL can provide an arrary of solutions for improving the quality of life of individuals, for allowing people to live healthier and independently for longer, for helping people with disabilities, and for supporting caregivers and medical staff. A vast amount of literature exists on this topic, so this paper aims to provide a survey of the research and skills related to AAL systems. A comprehensive analysis is presented that addresses the main trends towards the development of AAL systems both from technological and methodological points of view and highlights the main issues that are worthy of further investigation.

Keywords: active assisted living; data collection; environmental sensors; methodologies for data analysis; smart objects; wearable sensors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fundamental aspects to be considered in the design and development of an AAL system: possible users (who?), environments (where?), and functionalities (what?).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Several types of sensors deployed into the house and attached to devices permit gathering a variety of data concerning the location of the resident(s), the object(s) they communicate with, and data related to health conditions (from [19]).
Figure 3
Figure 3
A retirement home (from [20]): heterogeneous sensors can collect data to support the caregivers in their work, while, at the same time, collect valuable data for the indoor localization of both residents and caregivers. The system detects a fallen person through the signal sent by the (a,b) Wi-fi bracelet and alerts (c) the caregiver. The (d) robot assists a (e) bedridden resident requesting help.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The solution proposed in [26] for activity monitoring in multiple domains of preventive measures: nutritional guidance, physical exercise promotion, cognitive practice, social activity, and positive care planning.
Figure 5
Figure 5
An example of AAL elderly people’s residence or house full of sensors, such as a presence sensor or temperature sensor, and actuators, such as light control, home automation control, medication control, and so on (from [94]).
Figure 6
Figure 6
The main steps in AAL systems.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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