Commercially available tilt sensors use a mechanical sensor (picture old mercury switches or mechanical float switches), they can only sense angles and changes in tilt, and require you to remove them before you lie down or recline in a chair.
In contrast, the Halo sensor uses modern technology, and can sense much more than just a simple angle. Our technology allows you to wear it even while you are lying down, which means you don’t have to remember to put it back on when you
stand back up – when you need it most.
Fall detection is a core competency here at Halo Monitoring. Even the process for testing fall detection is highly controlled. We have collected and stored over 1,500 raw motion data sets. The data was collected from a variety of volunteers each choreographing 40 specific movement patterns. The movement patterns include a variety of real falls but also include a large variety of normal movement patterns. The real fall patterns included a variety of speeds – fast falls, such as those from tripping, slipping, or losing balance; as well as slow falls, such as those falls occurring from falling off a toilet, or a fall as a result of a health anomaly, or a fall where the senior was able to slow the fall by grasping a wall or counter. The normal movement patterns include orientation changes (lying down, getting into bed, etc.), those with near-impacts (sitting in chairs, ascending and descending stairs, etc.), as well as vigorous movement (rolling over in bed, bending down, picking up objects). We then test our algorithms against these known motion patterns and don’t rest until we are satisfied with the sensitivity (ability to detect real falls) as well as the specificity (ability to reject false positives).
