Context-aware middleware solutions for anytime and anywhere emergency assistance to elderly people

Abstract

The growing percentage of elderly people in \nsociety calls for novel healthcare support services \nto enhance elders’ daily life independence in \nindoor and outdoor environments. Ubiquitous \ntechnologies create significant opportunities not \nonly for indoor, but also for outdoor anytime \nand anywhere assistance. However, outdoor \nemergency assistance requires that we address \nseveral challenging aspects, from elder location \ntracking and health condition monitoring to the \nformation of ad hoc assistance groups capable of \nassisting elders in need of help. This article \nfocuses on the creation and management of outdoor \nassistance teams and proposes a group \nmanagement system, AGAPE, that exploits visibility \nof location and group/user/device profile \ninformation as a key principle to trigger and \ncontrol the team formation and team member \ninteractions required to coordinate emergency \nactivities.