Abstract

The home deployment of sensor-based systems offers many opportunities, particularly in the area of using sensor-based systems to support aging in place by monitoring an elder’s activities of daily living. But existing approaches to home activity recognition are typically expensive, difficult to install, or intrude into the living space. This paper considers the feasibility of a new approach that “reaches into the home ” via the existing infrastructure. Specifically, we deploy a small number of low-cost sensors at critical locations in a home’s water distribution infrastructure. Based on water usage patterns, we can then infer activities in the home. To examine the feasibility of this approach, we deployed real sensors into a real home for six weeks. Among other findings, we show that a model built on microphone-based sensors that are placed away from systematic noise sources can identify 100 % of clothes washer usage, 95 % of dishwasher usage, 94 % of showers, 88 % of toilet flushes, 73 % of bathroom sink activity lasting ten seconds or longer, and 81 % of kitchen sink activity lasting ten seconds or longer. While there are clear limits to what activities can be detected when analyzing water usage, our new approach represents a sweet spot in the tradeoff between what information is collected at what cost.

Citations

2217	E: Data Mining: Practical machine learning tools and techniques - IH, Frank - 2005
758	Fast training of support vector machines using sequential minimal optimization - Platt - 1999
277	Charting past, present, and future research in ubiquitous computing - Abowd, Mynatt
124	Inferring activities from interactions with objects - Philipose, Fishkin, et al.
123	Digital family portraits: supporting peace of mind for extended family members - Mynatt, Craighill, et al. - 2001
72	Work Rhythms: Analyzing Visualizations of Awareness Histories of Distributed Groups - Begole, Tang, et al. - 2002
62	Activity recognition in the home using simple and ubiquitous sensors - Tapia, Intille, et al. - 2004
56	A network-centric approach to embedded software for tiny devices - Cull, Hill, et al. - 2001
45	Rhythm modeling, visualizations, and applications - Begole, Tang, et al.
45	Simultaneous Tracking & Activity Recognition (STAR) Using Many Anonymous, Binary Sensors - Wilson, Atkeson
35	Digital Family Portrait Field Trial: Support for Aging - Rowan, Mynatt - 2005
20	A.: Some Assembly Required: Supporting EndUser Sensor Installation in Domestic Ubiquitous Computing Environments - Beckmann, Consolvo, et al.
15	BE – The CareNet Display, Lessons Learned from an - Consolvo, Roessler, et al.
11	The ELDer Project - Hirsch, Forlizzi, et al. - 2000
10	Bathroom activity monitoring based on sound - Chen, Kam, et al. - 2005