{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T01:10:12Z","timestamp":1781658612507,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,6,18]],"date-time":"2015-06-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1434585600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Operational Program &quot;Education and Lifelong Learning&quot; of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)-Research Funding Program: Archimedes III"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Older adults\u2019 preferences to remain independent in their own homes along with the high costs of nursing home care have motivated the development of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies which aim at improving the safety, health conditions and wellness of the elderly. This paper reports hands-on experiences in designing, implementing and operating UbiCare, an AAL based prototype system for elderly home care monitoring. The monitoring is based on the recording of environmental parameters like temperature and light intensity as well as micro-level incidents which allows one to infer daily activities like moving, sitting, sleeping, usage of electrical appliances and plumbing components. The prototype is built upon inexpensive, off-the-shelf hardware (e.g., various sensors, Arduino microcontrollers, ZigBee-compatible wireless communication modules) and license-free software, thereby ensuring low system deployment costs. The network comprises nodes placed in a house\u2019s main rooms or mounted on furniture, one wearable node, one actuator node and a centralized processing element (coordinator). Upon detecting significant deviations from the ordinary activity patterns of individuals and\/or sudden falls, the system issues automated alarms which may be forwarded to authorized caregivers via a variety of communication channels. Furthermore, measured environmental parameters and activity incidents may be monitored through standard web interfaces.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s150614487","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,6,18]],"date-time":"2015-06-18T10:08:36Z","timestamp":1434622116000},"page":"14487-14512","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":54,"title":["Hands-On Experiences in Deploying Cost-Effective  Ambient-Assisted Living Systems"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Athanasios","family":"Dasios","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Patras GR-26335, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Damianos","family":"Gavalas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Patras GR-26335, Greece"},{"name":"Department of Cultural Technology and Communication, University of the Aegean,  Mytilene GR-81100, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Grammati","family":"Pantziou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Informatics, Technological Educational Institution of Athens, Athens GR-12243, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Charalampos","family":"Konstantopoulos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus, Piraeus GR-18534, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,6,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"579","DOI":"10.1109\/JBHI.2012.2234129","article-title":"A survey on ambient-assisted living tools for older adults","volume":"17","author":"Rashidi","year":"2013","journal-title":"IEEE J. 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