Hardware and software design of behaviour recognition and analysis systems starting from data provided by innovative sensor networks, such as the new sensorised floors, or traditional, such as visual sensors, static and PTZ cameras and KINECT. With the FLORIM-AGE project, in cooperation with the company FLORIM SPA and with the Emilia-Romagna Region, Softech-ICT has led to patenting and producing a new modular and scalable platform for pressure information acquisition, through matrices of sensors integrated in ceramic floors. The data from such a dense network of sensors may be processed in real time to recognise the presence of moving objects or people and their activity or behaviour
This project represents the state of the art at international level on designing dense pressure sensor networks for low cost sensing floors that may be employed in large-scale installations. A sensor system was designed through the innovative use of new materials, hardware and software integration and employing new inference and pattern recognition methodologies. Low level software libraries are independent from the application, thus supporting the development of new products and implementation in different sectors. For related scientific papers and patent details see imagelab.unimore.it
The floors currently available on the market or in the scientific field are based on high-cost sensor networks, whose employment in large-scale installations is therefore difficult. These constraints have been overcome by producing the sensor system through the innovative use of low-cost materials, intended for other applications and easily integrated in floors, optimising their sensitivity to pressure through the electronic acquisition system.
Sensing floors and Sensing environment for Ambient Assisted Living
Within the sphere of ambient assisted living it is required to research and experiment new services that - by exploiting ICT's potential - evolve into technologically reliable and socially acceptable systems and which tend to improve the safety and independence of elderly persons in a domestic setting. Thanks to the communication protocol and scalability of the system developed, it is possible to monitor with a PC the whole home environment, even with cloud or remote services, without invading the privacy of the person living there. It is therefore possible to: Alert any first responders in the event of falls, movements outside certain defined areas, absence of activity in areas of the home, etc. Recognise the presence of any intruders in the whole home or only within specific areas of the same. Should the system detect an inconsistent number of users or, through gait analysis, persons outside the family unit, the system may automatically request the assistance by external operators. The system may perform user interface functions within intelligent homes, for overall improvement of home environment accessibility. The research carried out has allowed prototypes and products in the pre-competitive development stage to be produced. System design and patenting, HW and SW development and characterisation and measurement of results in different settings have been obtained.
Florim Ceramiche S.p.A
The prototype has been introduced at national (MADEEXPO 2013) and international (ACM Multimedia 2013) level, in cooperation with FLORIM Spa. However, the centre is available to cooperate with integration of heterogeneous sensor networks, especially visual ones.