Safety services for children: a wearable sensor vest with wireless charging

Abstract

Wearable sensors constitute an increasing market in providing various promising opportunities for improving and controlling safety issues for children in day care and schools. This paper presents the technological enablers and requirements for building a complete end-to-end energy-efficient safety system. Our work introduces a proof-of-concept for a wearable sensor vest with integrated wireless charging, designed to enhance the security of children. The wireless charging takes place in the ordinary repository for the vests, such as in a wardrobe or a coat rack, without requiring any specific actions from the user. The developed sensor vest provides information about the location and well-being of children, based on received signal strength indication, global positioning system, accelerometer, and temperature sensors. This paper also discusses the experiences of the “safety service for children” school pilot, which utilized various sensors with end-to-end applications. Piloting and technological implementations are based on a participatory study conducted among children, teachers, and parents, to gain important knowledge and understanding about the real user needs and service system usability requirements.