Pedestrian navigation system with fall detection and energy expenditure calculation

In this paper, a mobile node which includes a 3-axis accelerometer, a 2-axis gyroscope, and two digital compasses is implemented and evaluated to obtain the position, fall detection and activity energy expenditure calculation. The position can be found using steps and heading detected from the accelerometer and digital compasses. Fall is detected by analysis of the sensing patterns obtained from accelerometer and gyroscope. Activity energy expenditure can be calculated with activity count derived from accelerometer and a predefined regression equation. The obtained information from the implemented mobile node is transmitted to a monitoring station using ZigBee wireless communication in real time. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.