Web Posted on: November 22, 1997

IMSAS (INTEGRATED MULTIMEDIA SOCIAL ALARM SYSTEM)

Bob Allen
WS Atkins - Northern
Church House
Grange Road
Middlesbrough
Cleveland TS1 2LR
United Kingdom
Tel + 44 1642 241871
Fax + 44 1642 241877
Internet: rallen@wsatkins.co.uk

Introduction

It is widely recognised that it is preferable to maintain elderly and disabled people in their own homes rather than in institutional care. However in order to achieve this goal a social alarm system is required to be installed within the individuals dwelling to provide a monitoring and response service to potential problems.

Traditionally in the UK and certain other European countries this type of service has been provided via a two way voice communication system that is initiated via the operation of an alarm switch (manual or automatic) located within the dwelling. Upon initiation of the alarm triggering device a coded signal is sent (predominantly via the Public Switched Telephone Network - PSTN) into a central monitoring station. This monitoring station contains the records appertaining to all the individuals connected into the system. Upon receipt of the alarm signal a database interrogation is automatically instigated which results in the provision of relevant data to the system operator. The system operator can then open two way speech to the calling dwelling and ascertain the extent of the required response. Calls may be initiated from within the dwelling via manually operated switches (pullcords and portable radio triggers) or automatic devices such as smoke detectors, pressure mats etc.

The existing systems have therefore evolved to provide a reactive service only with little opportunity to provide a pro-active service. The aim of the IMSAS project is to undertake a survey of the user needs of social alarm systems and to provide enhanced facilities that will enable the care providers to undertake a pro-active role which will further improve the wellbeing of individuals resident in their own dwellings.

The TIDE Project T108 (IMSAS)

In response to a call for papers issued by the European Commission under the TIDE (Technology for the Integration of Disabled and Elderly People) programme a consortium of interested parties was established and a bid made for partial funding for the IMSAS project.

The members of the consortium being:-

• Western Health Board (Ireland) - care providers
• Forbairt (Ireland) - Irish science and technology agency
• Cardiff Institute of Higher Education (UK) - research computer software
• Screenphones Limited (Ireland) - telecommunications software development
• Rigel Engineering (Belgium) - computer software and product design
• WS Atkins plc (UK) - independent consulting engineers

Approval was granted by the CEC and the project commenced its 3 year programme in October 1994.

The work to be undertaken was split into 8 work packages.

WP1 - User Requirement Definition
WP2 - Functional Specification
WP3 - System Architecture
WP4 - Communications Survey
WP5 - Test System Definition and Design
WP6 - Installation of Pilot
WP7 - Evaluation
WP8 - Modular Sub Systems
WP9 - Project Management

In essence the equipment within the users dwelling must be capable of accepting inputs from a range of devices. These inputs require to be identified, coded and transmitted into a remotely located control station enabling the recipient of the call to identify both the location and nature of the call. In addition the equipment should be capable of receiving, storing and annunciating alarms and information emanating from the remote control station.

The IMSAS system incorporates all the elements of modern social alarm systems with the added value of enabling information (other than by speech) to be transmitted from the control station to the individuals dwelling.

The Objectives of the IMSAS Project

The IMSAS project aims to develop a design for an enhanced social alarm system which can be verified against user requirements on a pan European basis. The objectives are:-

(a) to provide the elderly and disabled community with the means to improve their lifestyles within their own homes and at the same time lessen the need for increases in health care budgets throughout the European Community

(b) to enhance the lives of the elderly and disabled members of the community by providing them with an effective means of communication directly between their dwellings and the services provided to the public at large (social information)

(c) to provide information relative to the needs of the elderly and disabled which could be transmitted quickly and economically into individual or large groups of dwellings from a monitoring control centre operated by the care provider organisation.

WP1 User Requirement Definition

The survey was led by the Western Health Board with principal assistance from WS Atkins and contributions from all consortium partners.

The survey took the form of structured interviews of circa 600 elderly and disabled people in the Community Care Area of Roscommon, Ireland. This area contains an over 65 population of 8,644 of which 2,166 live alone and a disabled population of 558. The nature of the area is such that many of the population live in remote locations and are isolated from many social facilities predominant in urban areas. In addition, public health nurses responsible for the care of elderly and disabled people in the community were consulted via a questionnaire. Subsequently the detailed findings were used as a basis for discussion and to stimulate debate with other European partners (Finland, Denmark, Netherlands and Portugal) principally to establish that the findings in Ireland could be taken as representative of pan European attitudes.

The main findings of the survey were:-

(a) Over 70% of the people surveyed felt that a social alarm system would be of great benefit to them.

(b) The most essential features were the monitoring of manual (pullcord and radio trigger) alarms, and automatic (intruder and smoke) alarms.

(c) Additional functions felt to be of great benefit by a significant portion of those surveyed (35%-45%) included the provision of information about visiting schedules of doctors/nurses, details of current doctor duty, community news information, warning of severe weather conditions (ie IMSAS).

From the results of the survey and subsequent interviews the consortium concluded that the survey was shown to be representative of European requirements for social alarm systems and of social attitudes towards the care of the elderly and disabled.

WP2 Functional Specification

The functional specification extended the work of WP1 and addressed the fundamental issues of providing the needs of the User Requirements document. The functional specification addresses three main areas which are:-

(a) equipment and functions within the dwelling

(b) equipment and functions provided at the control centre

(c) communications media options

(a) In the development of the specification, with particular regard to the equipment to be provided within individual dwellings, emphasis was paid to the particular needs of elderly and disabled persons. Equipment configuration, layout and appearance has been structured to augment simple, reliable operation under both normal and stress related conditions.

The ability to display data to the client is the unique feature of the IMSAS unit. Incoming information from the control centre is broadly categorised as being either alarm information (ie provides information requiring a prompt response as it may impinge upon the wellbeing of the occupier) or social information (ie provides social or background information that does not usually require a response).

Alarm information (emergency medical messages, severe weather alerts, poor air quality etc) is annunciated to the occupier via audio and visual prompts. The prompts remain upon the equipment until accepted by the occupier.

Social information (changes in transport timetables, visiting timetables, social event information etc) is stored upon the unit for a predetermined period and then erased. The occupier is presented with the data upon their manual request.

(b) The control centre receives data from remote monitoring stations (providing data on weather conditions, impending disruption to utility supplies etc) and, subsequent to interrogation of its database for persons requiring the information, distributes the data to the nominated dwellings. If the data is of sufficiently high priority the control centre also monitors responses from the dwellings ensuring that the data has been received and correctly interpreted by the recipient.

(c) The communications media provided between the control centre and the individual dwelling affects the extent and speed of data transmission. Unfortunately in remote rural areas the choice of media is often limited to standard analogue telephony systems. However in urban areas the choice can be much wider and the project has examined many alternative facilities, eg Public Switched Data Networks (PSDN), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Multi-point Microwave Distribution Systems (MMDS) etc.

The communications media options have been thoroughly addressed in WP4 Communications Survey. This document examines the availability of the various forms of telecommunications media throughout Ireland and compares it with those available throughout the European Community. It also addresses areas of interoperability and standards.

Current Progress

Workpackages WP3 System Architecture, WP4 Communications Survey and WP5 Test System Definition and Design have all been completed and the IMSAS project is currently undergoing test trials.

The dwelling unit (DU) for the IMSAS system is an open intelligent integrated multimodal/multimedia system that allows different categories of disabled and elderly people to carry out a series of fundamental activities of daily life whilst residing in their own dwellings. Two main categories of impaired people are addressed with the DU, these being sight and mobility impaired. The aim is to provide an integrated system with an interface for the disabled, that can utilise defacto commercial application products tightly integrated with a social alarm system.