Wearable Sensors for Human Activity Monitoring: A Review

An increase in world population along with a significant aging portion is forcing rapid rises in healthcare costs. The healthcare system is going through a transformation in which continuous monitoring of inhabitants is possible even without hospitalization. The advancement of sensing technologies, embedded systems, wireless communication technologies, nano technologies, and miniaturization makes it possible to develop smart systems to monitor activities of human beings continuously. Wearable sensors detect abnormal and/or unforeseen situations by monitoring physiological parameters along with other symptoms. Therefore, necessary help can be provided in times of dire need. This paper reviews the latest reported systems on activity monitoring of humans based on wearable sensors and issues to be addressed to tackle the challenges.

I. Introduction

Wearable sensors have become very popular in many applications such as medical, entertainment, security, and commercial fields. They can be extremely useful in providing accurate and reliable information on people’s activities and behaviors, thereby ensuring a safe and sound living environment. It may be that the smart wearable sensors technology will revolutionize our life, social interaction and activities very much in the same way that personal computers have done a few decades back.