A Real-Time Fall Detection System Using Sensor Fusion

There can be serious and harmful effects on people following a fall event due to its severity. This paper presents a real-time fall detection using sensor fusion to improve the overall accuracy of the system when subjected to continuous operation. The system combines data from accelerometer and an ultrasonic sensor to detect falls in real time. The developed mobile application accurately identifies fall scenarios and sends SMS notifications to emergency contacts. The proposed system's ultrasonic sensor module has wireless communication capabilities, while the accelerometer readings are acquired from the smartphone. Appropriate feature, threshold values, and program flow have been chosen, such that fall detection is accurate, and the system is operational even if one of the sensor malfunctions. The proposed system has been validated experimentally and the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity are 87.5%, 89.47%, and 94.74%, respectively.