Fall detection using an address-event temporal contrast vision sensor

—In this paper we describe an address-event vision system designed to detect accidental falls in elderly home care applications. The system raises an alarm when a fall hazard is detected. We use an asynchronous temporal contrast vision sensor which features sub-millisecond temporal resolution. A lightweight algorithm computes an instantaneous motion vector and reports fall events. We are able to distinguish fall events from normal human behavior, such as walking, crouching down, and sitting down. Our system is robust to the monitored person’s spatial position in a room and presence of pets.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: ISCAS
• Authors: Zhengming Fu, Eugenio Culurciello, Patrick Lichtsteiner, Tovi Delbruck
• Keywords: Fall Events, Hardware, ISCAS 2008, Sub-millisecond Temporal Resolution, Temporal Contrast Vision