USEFIL · Unobtrusive Smart Environments for Independent Living \nUSEFIL

The USEFIL project aims to address the gap between technological research advances and the practical needs of elderly people by developing advanced but affordable in-home unobtrusive monitoring and web communication solutions. More specifically, USEFIL intends to use low cost off-the-shelf" technology to develop immediately applicable services that will assist the elderly in maintaining their independence and daily activities. Installation of the USEFIL system will not require retrofitting in a person's residence and will be almost invisible once installed. Thus we expect that it can be used in a wide variety of residential environments, which will be validated in three different field trial studies.Because the system will be "software driven," based on open source platforms, applications can be easily added or subtracted with no real limit to the overall number of services offered. Furthermore, USEFIL intends to provide guidelines for the community of technology developers to optimize future generation of applications for an ageing population.Within the domain of the USEFIL project, we will deploy systems and applications that can unobtrusively record elderly behavioural indicators such as cognitive decline, emotional status and health vital signs