Award Date

1-1-2005

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Committee Member

Georg Mauer

Number of Pages

96

Abstract

The number of retirees in the US is continuously increasing in proportion to the total population as the baby-boomers in the United States age. As these retirees age they are in need on continuous medical treatment and care which impacts the percent of the national budget placed on healthcare. As healthcare issues with the retirees they are often moved by their family members to assisted living facilities or to nursing homes. This movement is costly to both the family members and to the government agencies paying for or subsidizing their care. The proposal brought forth in this thesis is to design a sensor based system that should reduce the need for personnel and enhance elder's quality of life by affording them more independence allowing them to live at home longer; The purpose of this thesis is the evaluation of different sensor types with regard to benefits, specificity of sensor signal to the function being monitored, drawbacks, reliability, acceptance levels by elders, privacy concerns. The design concepts for sensor assembly's configurations under the special set of criteria that must be applied in the homes of elders, information of reliability studies: signal threshold levels, resolution of potential conflicts or false positives. Finally an inference engine R&D: Drawing inferences and conclusions from signals and temporal sequences, correlation with other signals, signal validation and plausibility analysis. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

Keywords

Application; Elder; Home; Sensors; Support

Controlled Subject

Mechanical engineering; Biomedical engineering

File Format

pdf

File Size

3133.44 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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