Inclusively | Can Wi-Fi sensing help elderly and disabled people?

A conversation with Saibal Chakraburtty at Cognitive Systems, Chris Lewis at Lewis Insight, and Monica Paolini at Senza Fili

Inclusivity starts at home. Being able to live independently at home is, for many of us, fundamental to our quality of life. How can technology help us live on our own more safely and give our caretakers better tools to assist us?

We talked to Saibal Chakraburtty, Director of Product Management at Cognitive Systems, about how Wi-Fi sensing can do this.

Wi-Fi sensing uses the Wi-Fi radio signal to detect motion within the Wi-Fi network coverage area. Unlike location-based services, sensing detects the motion of people, pets or objects that have no connected device or sensor, making it very inobtrusive to deploy and operate. In a home environment, it is more respectful of privacy boundaries and does not require a smart home separate infrastructure.

By tracking human motion in a residential environment, Wi-Fi sensing can detect anomalies (e.g., your mother did not get up this morning, or your father keeps going out of the house for hours at unusual hours) or other patterns that may alert caretakers or trigger an emergency response. We talked about what the technology can do, how it can be deployed and operated, how can Wi-Fi sensing services be deployed, and what are the use cases for elderly and disabled people who want to live on their own.

This is what we talked about (register to go to the sections you care about):
0:05 Sensing technology for inclusion and accessibility.
1:48 Accessibility and inclusivity in technology with a blind person and telecom analyst.
3:09 Wi-Fi sensing technology for home automation.
7:29 Motion detection technology for home security.
11:51 Using Wi-Fi motion sensing for elderly care and home security.
17:50 Using data analytics for elderly care.
22:12 Using AI for elderly care and social care.
28:50 Aging in place technology and its benefits.
32:32 Aging population, caregiving, and smart home technology.
38:17 Using WiFi sensing for home coverage and motion insights.
43:50 Using Wi-Fi motion sensing technology in home automation.