An RFID-Based Monitoring and Localization System for Dementia Patients

The fast increase in the percentage of elderly people over the past few years has prompted a major interest in developing monitoring systems to help in the well being of the elderly. More importantly, we are also witnessing an increase in the number of elderly needing assistance because of diverse chronic diseases. The elderly related dementia is among the most disabling diseases with dangerous consequences such as wandering into hazardous or insecure areas. This wandering, particularly in urban areas can be life threatening. Recently, with the rapid emergence of disruptive technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), it has become possible to build systems that combine IoT and the cloud for monitoring the elderly suffering from dementia or depression. This paper introduces an RFID-based novel cost-effective tracking system for a multi-person home. The proposed system can accurately track up to three elderly people within the room they are in. The proposed prototype solution is based on wearable anklets or bracelets with batteryless tags for localizing elderly wandering within the home using passive RFID. An Android Applet was developed for localizing the elderly and alerting caregivers of at-risk inhabitants of smart homes within and outside (at exit level) the residence area.