The purpose of the project is to facilitate the assistant system in care services. For example, someone in an emergency situation may be notified immediately with further alert mechanism.
The project is divided into two parts:
1. Back-end surveillance system: based on Linux-powered embedded system with Bluetooth communication capability as shown in Figure 1.
2. Front-end Android smartphones and wearable devices: carried by elder people as shown in Figure 2.

▲ Figure 1

▲ Figure 2

▲ Figure 3

In Figure 3, red route considered as the indoor connection shall be given top priority to connect; blue route considered as the outdoor connection is a second choice for the wearable device. The Android phone running the specific application is able to connect to the wearable device via Bluetooth communication when the user is out of range of the surveillance system. The wearable device emulated by Linux in the thesis is able to communicate with surveillance system and stays in park state when no data is transferred. If an emergency situation occurs, the wearable device will send an emergency message to either the surveillance system or the Android phone depending on signal coverage of the surveillance system. The Android application will get location information automatically and then send a text message (SMS) to Emergency Response Center as soon as it receives the emergency message.
The project provides lower-cost integration of Android-based smart phones, wearable devices and Linux-based surveillance system. It is feasible to add more features such as fall detection, health and fitness sensors to the system in the future.

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