New movement monitoring system helping prevent falls in the elderly

Technology that allows BMW’s assembly lines to run more efficiently is now being used to accurately indicate when residents in Assisted Living Facilities (ALF) are at increased risk of falling. William Kearns, president of the International Society for Gerontechnology and associate professor at the University of South Florida College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, collected 43 million pieces of location data by monitoring the movements of 53 ALF residents for a year. He did this by tracking their wristbands with a Real Time Location System (RTLS) sensor network. The technology was created by Ubisense and is currently used by BMW. Dr