Detecting the presence of persons and estimating their quantity in an indoor environment has grown in importance recently. For example, the information if a room is unoccupied can be used for automatically switching off the light, air conditioning, and ventilation, thereby saving significant amounts of energy in public buildings. Most existing solutions rely on dedicated hardware installations, which involve presence sensors, video cameras, and carbon dioxide sensors. Unfortunately, such approaches are costly, subject to privacy concerns, have high computational requirements, and lack ubiquitousness. The work presented in this article addresses these limitations by proposing a low-cost occupancy detection system. Our approach builds upon detecting variations in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signals related to the presence of humans. The effectiveness of this approach is evaluated by performing comprehensive tests on five different datasets. We apply several pattern recognition models and compare our methodology with systems building upon IEEE 802.11 (WiFi). On average, in multifarious environments, we can correctly classify the occupancy with an accuracy of 97.97%. When estimating the number of people in a room, on average, the estimated number of subjects differs from the actual one by 0.32 persons. We conclude that our system's performance is comparable to that of existing ones based on WiFi, while significantly reducing cost and installation effort. Hence, our approach makes occupancy detection practical for real-world deployments.

Moved by the necessity, also related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, of the design of innovative solutions in the context of digital health, and digital medicine, Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are more and more emerging as a central system for the implementation of solutions for well-being and healthcare. In fact, by elaborating the data collected by a WBAN, advanced classification models can accurately extract health-related parameters, thus allowing, as examples, the implementations of applications for fitness tracking, monitoring of vital signs, diagnosis, and analysis of the evolution of diseases, and, in general, monitoring of human activities and behaviours. Unfortunately, commercially available WBANs present some technological and economic drawbacks from the point of view, respectively, of data fusion and labelling, and cost of the adopted devices. To overcome existing issues, in this paper, we present the architecture of a low-cost WBAN, which is built upon accessible off-the-shelf wearable devices and an Android application. Then, we report its technical evaluation concerning resource consumption. Finally, we demonstrate its versatility and accuracy in both medical and well-being application scenarios.

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the significant challenges posed by Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and the need for innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for affected individuals. As AD prevalence continues to rise, technological advancements offer promising opportunities to address the multifaceted needs of patients and caregivers. This survey paper thoroughly investigates technological innovations in AD care, offering valuable insights into cutting-edge approaches that have the potential to positively impact the lives of affected individuals. By providing a holistic view of available assistive solutions, we review 2459 papers and selected 46 relevant studies published between 2015 and 2023, specifically focusing on healthcare technologies and solutions, utilizing sensing methods. The former will include Telemedicine, E-health, Smart Environment, Internet of Things (IoT), Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), and Personalized Assistive Solutions (PAS), while the latter encompasses Wearable/Environmental, Radio/Audio, Video/Image, and Digital Platforms. Our comparative assessment of recent survey papers reveals the unique contribution of this study, as it comprehensively examines the intersection of multiple parameters. By summarizing insights from these studies, we identify gaps and recommend future directions for advancements in AD care.

Background: Freezing of gait (FoG) is a complex, frequent, and disabling motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Wearable technology has the potential to improve FoG assessment by providing objective, quantitative, and continuous monitoring. Objective: This study aims to develop a robust FoG detection algorithm that can be embedded in a simple and unobtrusive wearable sensor system and can lead to a reliable unsupervised home assessment. Methods: Twenty-two subjects with PD and FoG were enrolled, equipped with four inertial modules on the ankles, back, and wrist, and asked to perform different tasks. Feature-driven and data-driven machine learning approaches were implemented, optimized, and evaluated. Further testing was conducted on two external datasets including a total of 545 FoG episodes. Results: Sixteen subjects experienced FoG, providing a total number of 101 FoG events. Results demonstrated that a single sensor on the ankle, with an adequate algorithm of data analysis based on machine learning, can provide a non-invasive approach for accurate FoG detection. The model proved robust on the independent datasets, with 88–95% FoG episodes correctly detected. Interestingly, while FoG can be easily discriminated from walking, static positions, and postural transitions, turning represents a significant challenge. The high number of false alarms still represents the main limitation of the FoG recognition algorithms. Conclusions: The collected dataset includes data from different sensors at different body positions. This, together with detailed labeling of tasks, activities, FoG episodes and their severity, can be a significant contribution to research on automatic FoG detection and characterization.

The revolutionary technologies behind Industry 4.0 have opened a new era for manufacturing: connected and autonomous machines, collaborative robotics, and monitoring techniques are spreading to increase productivity and sustainability. From the workers’ perspective, they bring new safety threats but also opportunities to solve old ones, while concerns about workers’ privacy arise due to the increase of data sensed and transferred from the shop floor. This paper presents the results of a research project addressing the prediction of dangerous conditions through workplace monitoring with privacy guarantees. This work is driven by a realistic approach starting from the fact that it is entirely centered on a real 14-meter production line equipped with an extensive array of top-tier devices, including robotic arms, autonomous mobile robots, a reconfigurable moving belt, a multi-camera system, and a highly efficient data transport and computation infrastructure. This project shows safety and privacy achievements over six representative use cases such as man-on-the-ground, environmental events (e.g., fire incidents), workers’ errors that can lead to potential accidents, compliance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and gatherings restrictions. The benefits of this study extend to stakeholders such as manufacturers and workers offering safety systems that can be deployed in industrial settings while addressing privacy concerns and providing compliance with regulations. The industrial laboratory at the heart of this study represents with realism a dynamic and interconnected Industry 4.0 and 5.0 environment.