New wireless technology from France Telecom Orange and Ember may
someday enable eldercare facilities and people with elderly family
members to keep tabs on their loved ones from afar.
France Telecom Orange's R&D Group is developing a ZigBee-based
network system that lets caregivers track the movement of elderly
relatives living independently, as well as nursing home residents.
Elderly people wearing a ZigBee-based tagging sensor, would
automatically set off a notification of their whereabouts in the event
they wander away from a premise.
The system will also enhance eldercare safety by providing a
wireless "panic call" capability for residents who find themselves
suddenly incapacitated. It also enables caregivers to remotely monitor
the state of exit doors and identify unauthorized entries or
departures.
The ZigBee-based system is currently in a three-month test trial
at an eldercare facility in Orgeres en Beauce, France. During this
trial, France Telecom intends to acquire the knowledge to deploy
ZigBee solutions in the field and integrate them with France Telecom
Orange's network and service infrastructure. The technology developed
for the eldercare facility was a significant challenge spanning
several buildings, and incorporating portable devices with very
limited battery power.
The trial will also help France Telecom Orange to understand the
kind of involvement people in health and elderly care expect from an
operator.
How it works
The France Telecom system uses Ember's EM250 ZigBee
system-on-a-chip and EmberZNet ZigBee software stack to create
self-organizing, self-healing wireless networks that can operate for
years on inexpensive batteries. With virtually no retrofit wiring or
construction required, this approach makes it easy and cost effective
for users to deploy and scale up their monitoring networks as needed.
The system's mesh network topology also makes it highly reliable.
The network of ZigBee-based zonal location sensors and controls
communicate with a gateway device that enables caregivers to monitor
residents' movement and location from either a local network console
or remotely over the Internet.
It is an ideal solution for monitoring the safety and well being
of aging family members who want to continue living alone in their
homes, as well as for eldercare facilities which are challenged to
keep track of their growing population of residents.
"With an increasingly aging population and dwindling healthcare
workforce, we designed the system to help families and nursing homes
address this need and improve eldercare safety easily and cost
effectively," said Roland Airiau, France Telecom Strategic Marketing,
Smart Environments Program Director. "However, to do so we needed a
wireless platform that was reliable and field proven. We selected
Ember because it has the most mature, feature-rich ZigBee development
platform and delivered the performance and battery life we needed."
About France Telecom Orange
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world's
leading telecommunications operators with more than 158 million
customers on five continents. In June, 2006, as part of the France
Telecom integrated operator strategy (NExT programme) to deliver
simple, convergent products, Orange became the single brand for
mobile, internet and tv offers in France, the United Kingdom, The
Netherlands and in Spain, strengthening Orange's position as the
number two mobile and internet services brand in Europe. In addition,
Orange Business Services became the new banner for business
communications solutions and services. Orange Business Services is
present in 166 countries and territories and serves customers in 220.
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris Eurolist
market and on the New York Stock Exchange. At December 31, 2006, the
group had 97.6 million mobile customers, 12.3 million internet
customers and 48.7 million fixed line customers.
At the end of 2006, France Telecom had consolidated sales of 51.7
billion euros by IFRS standards (preliminary results) and had 191,000
employees.
Further information about Orange and France Telecom can be found
on the Orange website at www.orange.com or the France Telecom at
www.francetelecom.com.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in
this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications
Services Limited.
France Telecom Orange and e-Health
To answer new needs and ease the access to associated
technologies, France Telecom Orange, has developed a broad range of
services for patients, Health professionals and most of the actors of
Health. For more than 10 years, France Telecom has accompanied the
various actors of health world (liberal professionals, hospitals,
private clinics, old people's homes, laboratories, networks designed
to health.needs...) in the evolutions of their business and focused on
three values: the responsibility, proximity and the innovation.
Today more than ever, information technologies have deeply
modified the way of working and communicating in order to offer a more
efficient service to the patients.
Network organization, remote dialogue, tele expertise, new tools
of information and communication via Internet... The health sector
knows a fast technological change towards "E-Health", with direct
consequences on the daily work of most health professionals: doctors,
nurses, ambulance men, hospitals, private clinics, laboratories,
ancillary medical, health specialized networks...
ZigBee: Wireless Control That Simply Works
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working
together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly
networked monitoring and control products based on an open global
standard. The ZigBee Alliance is a rapidly growing, non-profit
industry consortium of leading semiconductor manufacturers, technology
providers, OEMs, and end-users worldwide. Membership is open to all.
Additional information can be found at www.zigbee.org.
About Ember Corporation
Ember develops wireless sensor and control network technologies
that help make our living and working environments safer, smarter,
more comfortable and energy efficient. Ember's ZigBee-based
semiconductors and software enable communication between devices
embedded in a variety of building and home automation products. Ember
is headquartered in Boston and has a semiconductor development center
in Cambridge, England and distributors worldwide. Ember is a lead
member of the ZigBee Alliance, and its platform is the National
Technical Systems' (NTS) "Golden Suite" for 802.15.4/ZigBee
interoperability testing. For more information, please visit
www.ember.com.
Ember, Ember Enabled, EmberZNet, InSight and the Ember logo are
trademarks of Ember Corporation. ZigBee is a trademark of the ZigBee
Alliance. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of
their respective companies.
