Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 23-4 - 33

Advanced Sensing Solutions for
Ambient Assisted Living:
The NATIFLife Framework
Bruno Andò, Salvatore Baglio, Salvatore Castorina,
Ruben Crispino, and Vincenzo Marletta

T

he term assistive technology identifies a wide range
of solutions and services to improve the life quality
of frail people, by supporting them in performing
everyday tasks, accessing public services, participating in
education and civic life, as well as performing well at their
job [1]-[3]. Potential users of assistive technology are elders,
sometimes with disabilities, diseases or mental health conditions. To highlight the crucial role of assistive technologies, it
should be considered that by 2050, one out of six people in the
world will be over the age of 65, almost doubled as respect to
the current situation [1]-[3]. In general, it can be affirmed that
frail people may incur difficulties while performing Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), such as eating, drinking, mobility,
housework, use of home appliances, social interactions and
many other everyday activities.

Assistive Technologies
Assistive technologies can play a fundamental role in promoting independence, self-esteem and social integration of frail
persons, by providing solutions for Active Aging and Well Being, dedicated to elderly people willing to live autonomously in
their own environments, as well as dedicated technologies for
people with disabilities. Such solutions, just to mention a few
of them, include mobility devices such as walkers and wheelchairs, solutions to access Information Technology (IT) devices
and services, dedicated interfaces, communication aids, as well
as remote health and physical status monitoring [4].
As an example, the emerging field of gerontechnology is
very well addressed in [5]. Gerontechnology deals with technologies to aid the elderly in living well their lives in their own
environments. This paper reports a well-elaborated review of
Ambient Assistive Technologies, with a specific focus on people with cognitive impairment.
Assistive technology can play a fundamental role also to
support frail users in their own workplace, as well presented
in the interesting review paper [6], focusing on users with intellectual disabilities.
The impact of proper use and diffusion of assistive technology could be very strong both in terms of personal well-being
June 2020	

and from the socio-economics point of view. As an example,
the right use of assistive solutions can help elderly people live
autonomously at home, delaying the need to move in dedicated care centers.
These are what we call the Social Objectives of Assistive
Technologies:
◗◗ extending the period in which people can live in their own
environments by increasing their autonomy and safety;
◗◗ promoting health and functional capacity of the elderly;
and
◗◗ preventing social exclusion.
One may trust this estimate or not: more than 1 billion people need one or more assistive products, and this number will
be doubled in 2030. Today's situation is that one out of 10 users may access assistive technologies. It is common sense, and
worth remembering, that restricting access to assistive technologies causes people to suffer from social exclusion and
isolation, and in turn, there may be a strong impact of their
conditions on relatives and society [7]. This may be the consequence of high costs and out-of-pocket payments by users and
their families, lack of awareness, availability, trained personnel, policy, and financing.
In order to cope with such a situation, considering also the
limited availability of reliable commercial assistive solutions,
several actions have been put in place. As an example, the main
focus of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is good
health and well-being [8], in order to foster the accessibility
of high-quality assistive products by end-users. Similarly, the
Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) European Program is funding innovation for the development of products and services
specifically dedicated to older people and their caregivers [9].

Key Areas of Assistive Technology
Due to the considerable number of review articles in the field
of AT already available in the literature, it will be useless and
cumbersome to provide through this paper a mere classification of methodologies or solutions developed to cope with the
real needs of elderly and frail people. Just Googling "Assistive Technology" will provide an enormous scenario of very

IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine	33
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