A wearable airbag to prevent fall injuries

Authors:
Toshiyo Tamura;Takumi Yoshimura;Masaki Sekine;Mitsuo Uchida;Osamu Tanaka
Affiliations:
Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan;Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology, Tokyo, Japan;Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan;Prop Company, Tokyo, Japan;Yokohama Rehabilitation Center, Yokohama, Japan
Venue:
IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine - Special section on body sensor networks
Year:
2009

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Abstract

We have developed a wearable airbag that incorporates a fall-detection system that uses both acceleration and angular velocity signals to trigger inflation of the airbag. The fall-detection algorithm was devised using a thresholding technique with an accelerometer and gyro sensor. Sixteen subjects mimicked falls, and their acceleration waveforms were monitored. Then, we developed a fall-detection algorithm that could detect signals 300 ms before the fall. This signal was used as a trigger to inflate the airbag to a capacity of 2.4 L. Although the proposed system can help to prevent fall-related injuries, further development is needed to miniaturize the inflation system.