A Low-Cost Wearable System to Detect Fall and Non-Fall Activities for Elderly Individuals

A Low-Cost Wearable System to Detect Fall and Non-Fall Activities for Elderly Individuals

Authors

  • Muhammad Adib Syamlan Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember
  • Ahmad Arifin Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember
  • Josaphat Pramudijanto Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember
  • Fauzan Arrofiqi Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember
  • Muhammad Ariq Syamlan Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember
  • Raihan Aria Muhamad Noor Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember
  • Alif Syihabudin Fawwaz Suhartono Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56741/jnest.v5i01.1534

Keywords:

Elderly Individuals, Fall Detection System, Low-cost, Multilayer Perceptron, Wearable Device

Abstract

As the elderly population grows, the prevalence of age-related health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cognitive decline, and mobility impairment is also increased. Among these health conditions, falls are considered one of the greatest threats to elderly individuals. A low-cost wearable fall detection system is designed, with the purpose of monitoring and detecting their activities. Three master modules were constructed, with each consisting of an inertial sensor, a microcontroller, and a power supply circuit block. The data were collected using IMU MPU6050 and preprocessed using the MCU ESP32. Each master module is also supplied using a 3.7V 1S LiPo battery. 18 healthy subjects, consisting of 13 males and 5 females, agreed to volunteer for the experiments. They were instructed to do 8 different activities, including non-fall (stand still, sit-to-stand, walk, and sleep position) and fall events (forward fall, sideways fall, and backward fall). Overall, the system showed a good performance using the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) algorithm with an accuracy of 95.3% across all activities. While misclassification happens between classes, our system is still able to distinguish between non-fall vs. fall events with 100% accuracy. Cost analysis was also conducted; the overall cost for the three master modules in our proposed system is $65.4. This is cheaper than commercial fall detection systems and other related research, and our proposed system can also be used continuously. The system will alert caregivers to the immediate attention of elderly individuals.

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Author Biographies

Muhammad Adib Syamlan, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

received his B.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember in 2020. He later received M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from Institut Teknologi Bandung in 2022. He has been a lecturer in the Biomedical Engineering Department, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, since 2023. His research interests include assistive and welfare technology, rehabilitation engineering, and biomedical signal processing. (email: adib.syamlan@its.ac.id).

Ahmad Arifin, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

received his B.E. degree in Electronic Engineering from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Indonesia, in 1996. Since then, he has joined the Electrical Engineering Department, ITS, as an Educational Staff. He received M.E. and Ph.D. degrees in Electronic Engineering from Tohoku University in 2002 and 2005, respectively, with a major in Biomedical Electronic Engineering. From 2015 to 2024, he served as Head of the Biomedical Engineering Department, ITS. His research activities are in the fields of human movement measurement and analysis, human movement restoration by functional electrical stimulation (FES), biomedical signal and system modelling and analysis, and fuzzy control systems. He is a member of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) and the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society (IFESS). (mail: achmad.arifin@its.ac.id).

Josaphat Pramudijanto , Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

received his B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember in 1981. He later received M.Eng. Manufactur System Enggineering from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in 1987. He is now a lecturer in the Biomedical Engineering Department, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember. His research interests include control system engineering, rehabilitation engineering, and physiological system regulation. (email: jos@ee.its.ac.id).

Fauzan Arrofiqi, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Indonesia, in 2012 and 2015, respectively. From 2015 to 2019, he joined the Biomedical Engineering Department, ITS, as an educational staff member. Since 2019, he has continued his studies for a Ph.D. degree at the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, Japan. His research interests include the development of control systems for functional movement restoration using Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) and the development of wearable devices for rehabilitation and assistive technology. (email: fauzan.arrofiqi@its.ac.id).

Muhammad Ariq Syamlan, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

received his B.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering from ITS in 2025. He was an active volunteer on the Robotic Team ITS, Bayucaraka, which won several national and multinational awards. He has also done several international activities, including the Sakura Science Exchange Program from Shibaura Institute of Technology. His research interests include assistive and welfare technology, control systems, and physiological system regulation. (email: ariqsyamlan01@gmail.com).

Raihan Aria Muhamad Noor, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

received his B.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering from ITS in 2025. He was an active volunteer on the ITS Archery Team batch of 2023. He has also done several international activities, including the Sakura Science Exchange Program from Shibaura Institute of Technology. His research interests include assistive and welfare technology, control systems, and physiological system regulation. (email: raihanaria2003@gmail.com).

Alif Syihabudin Fawwaz Suhartono, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

received his B.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering from ITS in 2025. He was very active in a student organization in ITS. He also serves as a laboratory assistant in the biomedical engineering signal processing laboratory. He has also done several international activities, including the Sakura Science Exchange Program from Shibaura Institute of Technology. His research interests include assistive and welfare technology, rehabilitation engineering, and biomodelling. (email: alifsyihawazsuhartono@gmail.com).

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2026-05-03

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Syamlan, M. A., Arifin, A., Pramudijanto , J., Arrofiqi, F., Syamlan, M. A., Noor, R. A. M., & Suhartono, A. S. F. (2026). A Low-Cost Wearable System to Detect Fall and Non-Fall Activities for Elderly Individuals. Journal of Novel Engineering Science and Technology, 5(01), 70–79. https://doi.org/10.56741/jnest.v5i01.1534

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Vol. 5 No. 01 (2026): Journal of Novel Engineering Science and Technology

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