Measurement: Sensors 32 (2024) 101085

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Measurement: Sensors
journal homepage: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/measurement-sensors

Research on the remote monitoring system for falls in the elderly based on
the internet of things and six axis acceleration sensors
Niu Yurong
Intelligent Manufacturing School, Anhui Wenda Information Engineering College, Hefei, 230000, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: With the integration and collision of the Internet of Things, machine learning, Big data computing and other
Internet of things technologies, related applications of the Internet of Things also need to process a lot of real-time data streams.
Six axis acceleration This article focuses on the research of remote monitoring of falls using the Internet of Things and six axis ac­
Sensors
celeration sensors, and explores the efficient application of Internet of Things technology in the system. The
Remote monitoring system
hardware design and related software development of remote monitoring of falls for the elderly are the key parts,
and the overall framework, main modules, and specific implementation of the system are elaborated in detail. A
complete remote monitoring system is designed by selecting a suitable six-axis acceleration sensor, collecting and
analyzing the data. The continuous development of the Internet of Things and six axis acceleration sensor
technology can provide real-time intelligent remote monitoring. Compared to cloud computing platforms, edge
clusters have limited computing and storage resources and diverse types of computing node architectures.
Therefore, it is necessary to use lightweight application service deployment methods to build an efficient and
autonomous data processing platform. Through research and innovation on the remote monitoring system for
elderly falls, with optimized and comprehensive technology and detailed research support, the overall system
design was experimentally debugged and the experimental plan was ultimately determined. Through data
communication module, fall detection and diagnosis module, and database management module, rapid analysis
of remote acceleration data and information exchange are achieved, thereby minimizing the possibility of ac­
cidents caused by falls in the elderly.

1. Introduction
In terms of elderly care, the application of traditional video sur­
veillance technology is only limited to recording the daily lives of the
elderly, and this alone is far from timely assistance for elderly people
who have accidents [1]. In contrast, the remote monitoring system for
elderly falls using intelligent video analysis technology can automati­
cally recognize and analyze various situations of users in the screen
through real-time video, including their daily behavior, movement tra­
jectory, emotional changes, etc [2]. Because edge computing is close to
the IOT terminal equipment, it needs to directly process and analyze the
real-time data of the IOT of various protocol types, including the
nonuniformity of IOT data transmission protocols in different scenarios,
the excessive amount of real-time concurrent data and other problems,
which have brought great challenges to the data processing method of
edge computing and the Software architecture of platform applications
[3]. When a variety of IoT applications are directly deployed on edge
computing nodes, the real-time data of IoT will cause uneven utilization
of resources at each node of the cluster, which will increase the overall
data processing delay, and even cause the edge node to crash. Therefore,
the dynamic orchestration and scheduling of edge computing applica­
tions is also an urgent problem to build a high-performance edge
computing platform [4]. Combining current mature intelligent algo­
rithms to construct an intelligent dynamic scheduling system framework
can effectively improve operational efficiency. The remote monitoring
type fall system will have better development in the fierce market due to
its advantages such as low investment, easy and sensitive operation,
emphasis on protecting users’ personal privacy, and convenience in
carrying [5]. In addition to a single sensor monitoring system, there is
also a multi-sensor fall detection system with complex content, and its
algorithm mechanism is still the two most basic and common ones
mentioned above. Based on the characteristics of the fall system in
remote monitoring mode, further research has found that the six axis
acceleration sensor plays an indispensable role, and detection algo­
rithms based on the six axis acceleration threshold are also very common
in related fields [6]. At present, the relevant detection algorithms are

E-mail address: niuyurong1988@163.com.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measen.2024.101085
Received 19 October 2023; Received in revised form 22 February 2024; Accepted 4 March 2024
Available online 8 March 2024
2665-9174/© 2024 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
N. Yurong
mainly divided into two categories, namely threshold based detection
algorithms and recognition model based algorithms. Although there are
some differences in the way these two algorithms run, their ultimate
goal is to assist their respective algorithms in running smoothly and
ultimately achieve remote monitoring [7].
As an important tool to monitor the activities and posture of the
elderly, acceleration sensors can monitor the body posture, acceleration
and Angle of the elderly in real time, detect the fall risk of the elderly in
time by detecting abnormal body movements and posture changes, and
take timely rescue measures. Moreover, the acceleration sensor has the
advantages of small size, light weight, low power consumption and
relatively low cost, which is very suitable for being used in the elderly
fall monitoring system. Although there have been some relevant
research and implementation, there are still some challenges and
problems in the remote monitoring system for elderly falls, such as the
stability, accuracy of data transmission and data privacy protection.
Therefore, it is necessary to further research and develop a remote
monitoring system for elderly falls based on the Internet of Things and
six-axis acceleration sensors to improve the accuracy and practicality of
monitoring, and to ensure the safety and health of the elderly.
2. Related work
It is pointed out in the literature that the aging of the World popu­
lation is accelerating, and the fall remote monitoring measures, as a very
effective and feasible method, urgently need to be developed and put
into use, otherwise the hazards of falls to the elderly will be aggravated,
and more elderly people will have irreversible consequences due to the
untimely rescue of falls, Especially for patients who need to keep an eye
on their physical condition at all times or regularly undergo professional
testing at the hospital [8]. Therefore, extending to areas outside hospi­
tals, clinics, and users’ residences to establish effective remote moni­
toring systems is the correct way to reduce the risk of falls. Literature
shows that, based on the development of existing technology, there are
three main methods for fall monitoring: video image analysis, real-time
activity of objects monitored by cameras, but the disadvantage is that
the privacy and security of users cannot be guaranteed [9]; The analysis
of audio signals indicates that the frequency of vibration caused by the
impact during a fall event can be used to determine the frequency.
However, the disadvantage is that the installation is complex and the
investment is also significant; Remote monitoring device detection not
only prioritizes ensuring users’ privacy rights, but also makes every
effort to reduce interference with users’ lives [10]. Compared to the first
two, remote monitoring devices are more suitable. However, even with
remote monitoring systems that have two major advantages, there are
still technical issues, mainly due to incorrect judgments made by users
when they have fallen or not lying flat. The literature indicates that not
only the elderly, but also with the increasing demand for various aspects
such as motion detection, energy consumption assessment, and health
monitoring in daily life, acceleration sensor human behavior recognition
tools have gained widespread attention and have broad prospects [11].
Compared to computer vision behavior recognition methods, the ac­
celeration sensor method can better, more comprehensively, and more
fully demonstrate the essence of human motion. Its advantages include
not being limited by specific scenes and time, less energy consumption,
and lower capital investment. The specific implementation details of the
edge IoT data processing platform proposed in the literature and its
distributed deployment implementation on K3s clusters. The literature
introduces the development process of intelligent data processing tasks
in this scenario in detail, including Big data power Real-time computing
based on Flink, power statistical analysis and online machine learning
power prediction task based on LSTM, and provides the visualization
function of data calculation results [12]. In addition, the platform has
built an application monitoring system using Prometheus and Grafana
components. Then, according to the resource usage of each layer of the
platform components in processing real-time IoT data streams, a
2
Measurement: Sensors 32 (2024) 101085
comparative test was conducted in terms of Big data processing delay
and platform scalability under the extended data source. The results
show that the platform’s concurrent data processing capability can meet
the low latency data processing requirements under the real-time IoT
scenario. The literature points out that the data processing requirements
of various IoT scenarios cannot be unified due to the large amount of
concurrent IoT data on the edge side and the scattered distribution of
terminal devices, which requires that the Software architecture of the
edge computing platform should have good portability, high availability
and the component expansion ability to deal with real-time data streams
of the IoT [13]. Therefore, the architecture design of the IoT data pro­
cessing field is mainly a layered Software architecture, which decouples
the capabilities of data access, data processing, data storage and appli­
cation management, and uses a distributed computing framework and
middleware to achieve low latency computing of real-time IoT data. The
literature analyzed the requirements for real-time data processing and
clarified the hierarchical design goals and task scheduling system of the
Internet of Things data processing platform [14]. Compared to existing
research on edge data processing platforms, the literature first presents
relatively more complete platform characteristics, and then explains the
design ideas and solutions, various structures, and corresponding func­
tions of each layer of platform. It designs a real-time data processing
process for the Internet of Things that combines the processing layer
with the online machine learning application layer [15].
3. Overview of the internet of things and six axis acceleration
sensors
3.1. Key technologies of the internet of things
The acceleration sensor can monitor the body posture, acceleration,
Angle and other parameters of the elderly in real time, detect the fall risk
of the elderly in time by detecting abnormal body movements and
posture changes, and take timely rescue measures. The acceleration
sensor data can be used as measurement variables. By filtering and
tracking the acceleration sensor data, combined with the state estima­
tion filtering method of the algorithm, the estimation accuracy of the
elderly fall remote monitoring system can be effectively improved, and
the fall risk of the elderly can be judged more accurately. This method
can enhance the real-time and accuracy of the system, and provide more
reliable data support for rescue.
In order to improve the estimation accuracy of the edge Internet of
Things algorithm, the state estimation filtering method can be used to
filter and track the accuracy. The real-time quality mt is taken as the
measurement variable, that is, Z = mt; The accuracy of the algorithm is
taken as the state variable, and the rate of change of the algorithm is also
put into the state variable, that is, X = [x1x2]T, where, x1 = MR, x2 = x1.
The equation of state F (X,U) contains two equations, and the calculation
formula is shown in equation (1).
{
ẋ1 = x2
ẋ2 = ẋ1 = nc2 t2(n− 1) x1 − n(n − 1)ctn− 2 x1 − nac2 t2n− 1 b + n(n − 1)actn− 1 b
(1)
The measurement method is shown in equation (2):
Z = [(m0 − md )(1 − Me )]x1 + md (1 + Me ) (2)
Among them, W and V are system noise and measurement noise,
respectively. It is assumed that some factors ignored in the system model
are included in W and V and have Gaussian distribution characteristics.
The Covariance matrix of the system and measurement is expressed in Q
and R.
The Equation of state of the system is linear and time-varying, while
the measurement equation is obviously nonlinear. Therefore, Kalman
filter can not be directly used in this system for precision estimation.
However, the extended Kalman filter (EKF) can be extended to the
N. Yurong Measurement: Sensors 32 (2024) 101085

filtering estimation of nonlinear stochastic systems. Where, p is the transmission power of all M terminal stations as trans­
The Equation of state and measurement equation of the system in mitters for wireless unloading tasks, (⋅)H represents Conjugate transpose,
discrete form can be expressed as: and column vector h ∈ CM×1 represents the wireless channel coefficient
{
Xk+1 = F(Xk , Uk ) + Wk of all M terminal sites to edge IoT computing dedicated devices, and the
(3) energy consumption of wireless transmission corresponding to this off­
Zk = H(Xk , Uk ) + Vk
loading can be expressed as:
The extended Kalman filter EKF algorithm is applied as follows.
M(1 − τ)Lp
ewireless = Mtwireless p = ( ) (11)
(1) Initial condition of filter equation: log2 1 + σp2 hH h
o

x 0 = E(x0 ), P0 = var(x0 )
̂ (4)
Once the corresponding task volume for each terminal site is
completed and uninstalled to the edge IoT computing dedicated device,
(2) Forecast: the edge IoT dedicated device immediately executes the computing task.
{
x k = F(̂
̂ x k− 1 , uk− 1 ) Due to the convenience of charging specialized devices for edge IoT
(5) computing, the corresponding energy consumption expenses are not
Pk = Ak Pk ATk + Wk Qk− 1 WTk
considered here. The latency indicators corresponding to specialized
devices for edge IoT computing can be expressed as:
(3) Measurement update: 1 1
⎧ tMEC = = (12)
( )− 1 η − αMEC η − (1 − τ)α
⎪
⎪ Kk = PK HTk Hk PK HTk + Vk Rk VTk
⎨
xk = ̂
̂ T
x k + Kk (zk − h(̂
x k , 0))̂
x k , 0))zk − h (6) Where, the parameter η represents the computing power of the edge iot
⎪
⎪
⎩ Pk = (I − Kk Hk )PK computing special device, αMEC represents the task arrival rate that the
edge iot computing special device needs to perform, corresponding to
The duration of each terminal station is composed of two parts: task the offload of each terminal site can be expressed as 1-τ. α is the random
queue time and task calculation execution time, where the task arrival at task arrival rate at each terminal station, and the corresponding task
each terminal station is random and follows a typical K/K/1 random arrival rate is (1-τ)α. Based on the existing research results, the queuing
arrival model. The queue waiting time and calculated running time theory model of edge iot computing devices can be assumed to obey the
corresponding to this model can be expressed as formula (7): K/K/1 probability distribution model. All delay functions can be ob­
tained as shown in equation (13):
1
tnode = (7)
μ − ατ (1 − τ)L 1
toffloading = twireless + tMEC = ( )+ (13)
Among them, parameters μ It is the computing power of each ter­ p H η − (1 − τ)α
log2 1 + σ2 h h
minal station, with the corresponding dimension being GHz and pa­
o

rameters α Is the arrival rate of the Poisson Stochastic process of the task
arrival at each terminal site, parameter τ∈ (0,1) is the percentage of 3.2. The principle of a six axis acceleration sensor
tasks executed locally by each terminal site. This parameter is unknown
and needs adaptive optimization design based on instantaneous channel The six axis acceleration sensor is commonly known as a six axis
Attenuation coefficient. At the same time, the energy consumption sensor (consisting of a three axis accelerator and a three axis helic­
expression for each terminal station in the IoT system due to queuing ometer), and its operation process mainly involves the cooperation of
and executing computing tasks is shown in formula (8): the three axis accelerator XYZ to detect the user’s movement behavior
e0 and the rotation signals of different parts of the body. We conducted
enode = e0 tnode = (8)
μ − ατ research on acceleration feature extraction technology, starting from the
time-frequency domain characteristics and distribution characteristics
Among them, parameter e0 is the power consumption of each ter­
of the signal, and used techniques such as rotation analysis to extract
minal site.
two types of acceleration signal features. These two features can
The delay and energy consumption corresponding to the mobile edge
describe signal characteristics from different perspectives and have
computing of the Internet of Things both come from two sources,
strong discrimination ability for multiple behaviors. This article estab­
namely, the Transmission delay and transmission energy consumption
lishes a solution algorithm for six axis acceleration, and the algorithm
corresponding to the wireless unloading process, and the calculation
solving process is as follows:
delay and energy consumption corresponding to the mobile edge
According to the given layout structure, a piezoelectric six axis ac­
computing dedicated equipment when performing tasks. The dedicated
celeration sensor is installed. At this time, the output values of the six
computing device is offloaded from each terminal station via wireless
single axis acceleration sensors included are:
uplink, and the corresponding delay can be expressed as formula (9):
(1 − τ)L Ar = [Ar1 , ..., Ar6 ]T (14)
twireless = (9)
r Replace Ar with the output value of the six axis acceleration sensor
corresponding to the center of the cube.
Wherein, parameter L is the sum of the task amount locally executed by
the terminal site and the task amount unloaded to the IoT device, and A = [A1 , ..., A6 ]T (15)
parameter r is the data transmission rate of the wireless channel from the
terminal site to the edge computing dedicated device. The expression for In the equation, Ar1, …, Ar6 are the output values of each acceleration
the data transmission rate of the uplink offloading is shown in formula sensor installed according to the central layout structure of the cube. At
(10): the same time, error checks and adjustments from Ar to A should be
( ) made according to equation (16):
p
r = log2 1 + 2 hH h (10)
σo A = K(Ar + H(ω)) (16)

3
N. Yurong Measurement: Sensors 32 (2024) 101085

Where H(ω) is a function of angular velocity ω, a column vector of 6 × 1, Table 2

AY output for each path during loading in the direction of Y.
and K is a matrix of 6 × 6. Solving K is shown in equation (17).
( )− 1 AY/g U1(V) U2(V) U3(V) U4(V) U5(V) U6(V)
K = (Jr Q)− 1 = Jr J− 1 (17) 1 − 0.208 0.396 0.396 − 0.113 0.136 − 0.270
5 − 1.049 2.030 1.985 − 0.572 0.680 − 1.349
In the formula, Jr and J are the pose matrices of the piezoelectric six axis 10 − 1.895 3.573 3.570 − 1.026 1.226 − 2.431
acceleration sensor and the standard installation sensor, respectively, 15 − 2.743 5.165 4.954 − 1.475 1.776 − 3.510
and: 20 − 4.443 8.338 8.308 − 2.369 2.857 − 5.648
25 − 5.294 9.913 9.882 − 2.809 3.391 − 6.696
[ ]
Jr = JTr1 , JTr2 (18) 30 − 6.145 11.478 11.451 − 3.243 3.916 − 7.729
35 − 7.847 14.575 14.567 − 4.067 4.971 − 9.744
[ ]
J = JT1 , JT2 (19)
different methods, and also increases the likelihood of excellent in­
Where, Jr1, J1 correspond to position, and Jr2, J2 correspond to attitude. dividuals appearing in each generation. As the network structure con­
In the acquisition of the four elements, we can first obtain the rota­ verges, RMSE can still slowly decline, and even if no outstanding
tion vector, then convert it into the four elements we need per unit time, individuals are produced again, the final result of RMSE converges to
which greatly simplifies the subsequent attitude determination. The 0.3854.
conversion formula for rotating four elements and rotating vectors in the To gain a clearer understanding of the advantages of this article, the
Android coordinate system is as follows: corresponding training and testing samples were used to obtain the
( )
θ
( )
θ average RMSE. Compared with other algorithms, the results are shown
qx (θ) = cos − isin (20) in Table 3.
2 2
As shown in Table 3, the clustering algorithm is based on the training
(φ) (φ) sample, which is used to obtain the average value of the training. At the
qy (φ) = cos − jsin (21)
2 2 same time, the output error obtained by Algorithm A is relatively low. In
(ψ) (ψ) contrast, the C algorithm for dynamic optimization does not have an
qz (ψ) = cos − ksin (22) advantage. The B algorithm selects the center of the Radial basis func­
2 2
tion based on the orthogonal vector that has a large contribution to the
Android rotation quaternion qzyx = qz(ψ)qy(Φ)qx(θ) evaluates to: error. However, if the number of hidden neurons is the same, its output
{ (ψ) (ψ)}{ (φ) error is still slightly larger than that of the basic C algorithm. Regardless
qxyz = qz (ψ)qy (φ)qx (θ) = cos
2
− ksin
2
cos
2 of the training or testing samples, the output error of this algorithm is
(φ)}{ (θ) ( )}
θ the lowest, fully demonstrating its generalization ability. So, the clas­
− jsin cos − isin (23) sification of high-precision data is achieved through this algorithm. It
2 2 2
should be pointed out that this algorithm is not a method that can be
According to formula (23), the relationship between the four ele­ trained online, so the evolution time of the classifier is relatively long.
ments and the rotation vector can be obtained as follows: However, in behavior recognition systems, classifiers can be trained
(ψ) (θ) (φ) (ψ) (θ) (φ) offline to determine the network structure and corresponding parame­
q0 = cos cos cos − sin sin sin (24) ters in advance. In summary, the algorithm proposed in this paper is an
2 2 2 2 2 2
ideal training method.
(ψ) (θ) (φ) (ψ) (θ) (φ)
q1 = − cos sin cos − sin cos sin (25) 4. Design and experimental validation of a remote monitoring
2 2 2 2 2 2
system for falls in the elderly

3.3. Collection of experimental data 4.1. Design of a remote monitoring system for falls in the elderly

Under the action of AX, AY, AZ linear acceleration, the relationship This paper presents a scheme of remote monitoring system for
between input and output of each sensor is very linear; Under the action elderly falls based on Internet of Things and six-axis acceleration sensor.
of angular acceleration of αX, αY and αZ, the linearity of small-angle vi­ The various parts of the system design are shown in Fig. 1: The user
bration is poor, mainly due to the low resolution of the angular vibration wears different fall detection nodes, which include acceleration sensors
table and the impact of environmental noise. Therefore, these invalid to sense the user’s behavior and body movements. The acceleration
data will be eliminated in the subsequent calculation and processing, as sensor can monitor the acceleration and Angle changes of the elderly in
shown in Table 1. real time, and by detecting abnormal acceleration changes, the fall risk
Table 2 shows the calibration data of a six dimensional acceleration of the elderly can be found in time. The collected acceleration sensor
sensor prototype when unidirectional acceleration is applied. data is sent to the network receiving point through the wireless signal,
In contrast, the algorithm proposed in this article has certain ad­ and the network receiving node can choose to be placed in the user’s
vantages. Firstly, it expands the search scope, secondly, it combines two residence and other locations within the RF receiving range. The main
function of the network receiving node is to receive and convert the
Table 1
AX direction loading of each output.
Table 3
AX/g U1(V) U2(V) U3(V) U4(V) U5(V) U6(V)
Comparison of different algorithms for training RBF neural networks.
1 0.298 0.111 0.413 − 0.346 − 0.443 0.265
Method A algorithm B algorithm C algorithm Textual
5 1.510 0.550 2.051 − 1.731 − 2.214 1.331
algorithm
15 3.941 1.426 5.318 − 4.496 − 5.748 3.471
20 6.375 0.299 8.569 − 7.254 − 9.273 5.612 Number 30 30 30 35
25 7.588 2.735 10.18 − 8.632 − 11.034 6.683 Training 0.6485 0.6465 0.7512 0.3854
30 8.793 3.174 11.802 − 10.012 − 12.790 7.755 sample
35 11.165 4.059 15.017 − 12.789 − 16.283 9.902 Test sample 0.5621 0.6546 0.6485 0.3552

4
N. Yurong
Fig. 1. Overall system Block Diagram.
collected acceleration sensor data into RF signals for subsequent pro­
cessing and transmission. Finally, through the GSM network, the system
can transmit acceleration sensor data in real time to the residences of
multiple registered relatives, such as nearby hospitals and emergency
contacts. In this way, once the system detects that the elderly are at risk
of falling, the relevant relatives and medical personnel can be immedi­
ately notified, and timely rescue measures can be taken to ensure the
safety of the elderly.
The hardware circuit system of the fall detection node mainly con­
sists of a single battery, multiple different power circuits, the circuit
where the acceleration sensor is located, a human-machine interface
circuit, wireless communication, and a microcontroller circuit. The
battery and power circuit provide electrical energy to all other active
components in the system; The acceleration sensor circuit detection
device outputs the accelerations in the X, Y, and Z directions through
voltage; The human-machine interface circuit realizes the bidirectional
function of human control devices and device prompts for humans; The
wireless communication and microcontroller circuit are responsible for
the coordination and data processing of the whole system and commu­
nicate with the center through wireless means. The hardware of the
detection device is divided into a power circuit, an acceleration data
acquisition circuit, a wireless communication circuit, and a human-
machine interface circuit, as shown in Fig. 2. The most basic technol­
ogy of this device is wireless sensor network technology, which is used in
the ISM2.4 GHz free frequency band. The maximum transmission rate of
different network nodes in this device is still 250kbps.
The fall remote monitoring system consists of acceleration sensor,
data processing module, power supply and communication module
respectively. Make posture judgment on the user according to the known
possible body posture, and help the user complete the release of distress
Fig. 2. Hardware circuit system architecture of fall detection node.
5
Measurement: Sensors 32 (2024) 101085
and distress signal; The power module is to ensure that the system power
is sufficient; The communication module processes the user’s distress
information according to certain rules and then releases it. The accel­
eration sensor is a key component in the system, which senses the user’s
acceleration and Angle changes. By analyzing and processing the data
collected by the acceleration sensor, the system can judge the user’s
body posture and help the user complete the release of distress signals.
When the system detects that the user has fallen or other dangerous
situations, the acceleration sensor can capture the abnormal accelera­
tion change of the user in time, thus triggering the corresponding
distress signal.
The module of wireless data transmission and control is the impor­
tant and difficult part of the system design, first of all, to ensure that the
communication quality is clear and smooth, the communication dis­
tance is within the range of communication, and the communication
speed can be achieved in real time, followed by the network installation
and operation is convenient, and the most important is that the signal
can not be interfered with at will. In addition to the above three points, it
also includes convenient portability and low energy consumption, which
seems easy but requires multiple experiments. To sum up, the actual
design process mainly considers the following four aspects.
① Miniaturization
Under the premise of not affecting the function, the volume is small
and delicate, and it will not affect any characteristics of the system, and
it will cause negligible impact to the maximum extent.
② Scalability and flexibility
Modules must have uniformly defined, complete, and adaptive
external interfaces. When hardware needs to be added to a module, it
can be done directly through the corresponding external interface.
Scalability and flexibility are important, but the first thing that should be
ensured is the stability of the system, and the performance differences
between different devices should be considered when connecting
different devices.
③ Stability and safety
The components contained in each module have the ability to
operate normally under changes in the external environment within the
theoretical scope. For example, when external conditions such as tem­
perature and humidity are set, different modules and each component of
each module can operate normally. Even in harsh environments, each
module can still work stably as long as it is guaranteed within the
theoretical range.
④ Low cost
N. Yurong Measurement: Sensors 32 (2024) 101085

Low cost, which means less investment, is both a prerequisite for the
entire study and a basic but demanding requirement for each component
of each module. Remote monitoring design scheme should choose sim­
ple, easy to use, economical scheme; Each component of each module
should choose the one with low energy consumption, and at the same
time, the adaptation condition should be considered from the perspec­
tive of accuracy and linear shape.

4.2. Experimental verification

Fig. 3tests the scalability of the edge IoT data processing platform
implemented in this article, expanding the number of distributed com­
ponents in each layer of the platform to twice its original size. By
gradually increasing the number of PMU data sources (from 1 to 8
times), the computational resource utilization before and after the
expansion of the testing platform is compared. Fig. 3 shows the average Fig. 4. Comparison test of horizontal expansion time of platform components.
CPU resource utilization of each node in the edge computing cluster as
the number of data sources increases. From it, it can be seen that as the
Table 4
number of data sources increases exponentially, the resource utilization
Statistical results of successful detection of falls.
rate of IoT Broker Server and work nodes also increases proportionally.
According to the above, the expanded Big data processing layer com­ Index Male (number) Female (number)

ponents will consume more computing resources, enabling the platform M1 10 9

to process more intensive real-time data with low latency.
This paper further tests whether the platform uses the Kubernetes
container orchestration framework as the underlying Distributed oper­
ating system, and compares the average extension delay of Flink Task
Manager and online machine learning application components on the
edge stream processing platform. From Fig. 4, it can be seen that the
expansion time of the platform using Kubernetes container deployment
method is significantly shorter than the default deployment mode of the
components. The reason for this is that Kubernetes provides a process for
automatic scaling of applications. Users can update the number of copies
of distributed components by modifying Yaml files or HelmChart. The
Kubernetes system can expand the required Pod copies for applications
in parallel, and can also update old versions of Pods to new versions in
parallel.
The fall experiment has risks, and in order to obtain more objective
experimental results, two healthy young people were randomly selected
as the experimental subjects. The experimental subjects were one male
and one female aged 25 to 28. Set M1 as the individual falling in front of
their body and landing on their knees first; M2 refers to the individual
falling towards the back of the body, with the buttocks touching the
ground first; M3 refers to an individual falling towards the left side of the
body and bending their knees; M4 refers to an individual falling towards
the right side of the body, and the knee also bends. Table 4 shows the
actual fall detection results under various modes.
When an individual falls backwards, the accuracy of the prediction
obtained is relatively high, while individuals fall in other directions
M2 9 8
M3 9 10
M4 10 8
without reporting it, proving that different degrees of knee bending do
have a certain impact on the algorithm. The bending of the knee is
actually not fundamentally different from actions such as sitting and
squatting. If the knee is simply bent, it is difficult to detect it. Conversely,
if the knee is bent, a distress alarm signal will be generated, and the
possibility of false alarms in the system will be high. During the process
of falling forward, it can also be detected by directly kneeling on the
mat, which fully demonstrates that the algorithm has a high sensitivity
to falls.
In daily life, false alarms or repeated false alarms when worn by users
can greatly affect their user experience. Once a false alarm is triggered, it
can actually cause psychological panic and make them more prone to
falling. Therefore, false alarms are not allowed for this system. Table 5
shows the statistics of false alarms in the experiment. This includes 30
min of walking, 20 min of running, 20 times of going up stairs, 20 times
of going down stairs, 30 times of sitting down, 30 times of squatting, 10
times of taking the elevator, and 10 times of high jumping.
Through the analysis of experimental results, we found that the false
alarm rate of high jump is relatively high, and there were no false alarms
in the other items. For elderly people, the probability of high jump
movements occurring is relatively small, so it can also be seen that the
related false alarm rate is very low.
In summary, the performance of this practical application test is very
high, and the number of false positives is relatively small. It is highly
sensitive to falls and can ensure a certain time margin, meeting the
design requirements.

Table 5
Statistical results of misreporting.
Index Male (number) Female (number)

Walk 0 0
Run 0 0
go upstairs 0 0
Go downstairs 0 0
Sit down 0 0
Squat down 0 0
Elevator 0 0
High jump 9 7
Fig. 3. Platform CPU usage.

6
N. Yurong
5. Conclusion
The edge computing platform has the characteristics of distributed
clustering architecture, which can meet the requirements of real-time
data processing of the Internet of Things with low latency, and reduce
the cost of data processing and the risk of data privacy disclosure. This
paper first introduces the key technology foundation required for the
development of the data processing platform and scheduling system of
the Internet of Things, including the container technology, the Kuber­
netes container orchestration system used for edge application deploy­
ment, the MQTT application protocol supporting the data reporting of
the Internet of Things, the Big data Real-time computing framework and
message middleware, and the core of the task scheduling system. Then, a
distributed edge IoT data processing platform Software architecture is
proposed, and a multi-level real-time data processing flow of the IoT is
constructed. The hardware structure of a fall remote monitoring node
based on sensor networks was studied. A six axis acceleration sensor was
selected to collect, process, and wirelessly transmit real-time accelera­
tion of the user’s physical condition. RF devices were selected as nodes
with different functions, and the information collected from the accel­
eration sensor was judged based on existing experience. Acceleration
sensor is a key component of the elderly fall remote monitoring system,
which can sense the acceleration and Angle changes of the elderly in real
time, so as to detect the fall risk in time. By transmitting acceleration
sensor data to a network receiving node, the system is able to convert the
collected data into an RF signal and transmit it to a designated location,
such as a hospital or the residence of an emergency contact. The remote
monitoring system based on the Internet of Things can realize the
function of real-time monitoring and remote notification, and once the
system detects the fall risk of the elderly, the relevant relatives and
medical personnel can take timely rescue measures to ensure the safety
of the elderly. This article is based on the degradation of various physical
functions in the elderly population, as well as the tendency to fall in
daily activities and the significant harm caused by falls. We will make
every effort to develop a flexible, stable, safe, low-cost, and low-energy
fall warning device for the elderly. The device is based on a six axis
acceleration sensor and selects the acceleration threshold as the warning
detection algorithm. In daily life, this device not only effectively detects
falls, but also has a low level of false alarms.
Ethics approval
Not applicable.
Informed consent
Not applicable.
Funding
This paper was supported by Key Projects of Natural Science
Research in Colleges and Universities in Anhui Province: Research on
remote monitoring system for falls of the elderly based on six-axis
Measurement: Sensors 32 (2024) 101085
acceleration sensor:KJ2020A0816.
Credit author statement
Niu Yurong: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis;
Writing - original draft.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare the following financial interests/personal re­
lationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the
publication of this article.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
References
[1] S. Xueya, D. Li, Development of wireless mobile video surveillance on windows
mobile using DirectShow technology, J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 14 (7) (2017)
3163–3169.
[2] M.Y. Chen, Establishing a cybersecurity home monitoring system for the elderly,
IEEE Trans. Ind. Inf. 18 (7) (2021) 4838–4845.
[3] S.P. Singh, A. Nayyar, R. Kumar, A. Sharma, Fog computing: from architecture to
edge computing and big data processing, J. Supercomput. 75 (2019) 2070–2105.
[4] L. Cui, Z. Chen, S. Yang, et al., A blockchain-based containerized edge computing
platform for the internet of vehicles, IEEE Internet Things J. 8 (4) (2020)
2395–2408.
[5] I. Lazarou, A. Karakostas, T.G. Stavropoulos, T. Tsompanidis, G. Meditskos,
I. Kompatsiaris, M. Tsolaki, A novel and intelligent home monitoring system for
care support of elders with cognitive impairment, J. Alzheim. Dis. 54 (4) (2016)
1561–1591.
[6] A. Al-Kababji, A. Amira, F. Bensaali, A. Jarouf, L. Shidqi, H. Djelouat, An IoT-based
framework for remote fall monitoring, Biomed. Signal Process Control 67 (2021)
102532.
[7] Z. Yang, R. Algesheimer, C.J. Tessone, A comparative analysis of community
detection algorithms on artificial networks, Sci. Rep. 6 (1) (2016) 30750.
[8] A. Choi, T.H. Kim, O. Yuhai, S. Jeong, K. Kim, H. Kim, J.H. Mun, Deep learning-
based near-fall detection algorithm for fall risk monitoring system using a single
inertial measurement unit, IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng. 30 (2022)
2385–2394.
[9] Y. Tian, G.H. Lee, H. He, C.Y. Hsu, D. Katabi, RF-based fall monitoring using
convolutional neural networks, Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile,
Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies 2 (3) (2018) 1–24.
[10] J.P. Jang, H.T. Lin, Y.J. Chen, M.H. Hsieh, Y.C. Huang, Role of remote monitoring
in detection of atrial arrhythmia, stroke reduction, and use of anticoagulation
therapy–a systematic review and meta-analysis, Circ. J. 84 (11) (2020)
1922–1930.
[11] C. Chen, R. Jafari, N. Kehtarnavaz, A survey of depth and inertial sensor fusion for
human action recognition, Multimed. Tool. Appl. 76 (2017) 4405–4425.
[12] H. Liu, M. Cocea, W. Ding, Multi-task learning for intelligent data processing in
granular computing context, Granular Computing 3 (2018) 257–273.
[13] Z. Hao, E. Novak, S. Yi, Q. Li, Challenges and software architecture for fog
computing, IEEE Internet Computing 21 (2) (2017) 44–53.
[14] H. Ma, X. Pang, Research and analysis of sport medical data processing algorithms
based on deep learning and Internet of Things, IEEE Access 7 (2019)
118839–118849.
[15] H. Ning, Y. Li, F. Shi, L.T. Yang, Heterogeneous edge computing open platforms
and tools for internet of things, Future Generat. Comput. Syst. 106 (2020) 67–76.