Connecting Aged Care with IoT Solutions

In 2019 the total world population exceeded 7 billion, out of which, about 800 million are considered elderly people. According to World Bank, currently, about 9% of the world’s population consists of people whose age is more than 65 years. A part of them requires constant supervision because of health problems and other reasons.

There are many aged care homes across the world that provide accommodation and personal care for elderly people. Personal care includes assistance making the food, socialising, dressing, taking medication. However, a care worker cannot replace a family and provide care and comfort 24/7.

THE CHALLENGE

Today, as the world is still in the grip of the COVID-19 crisis, countries across the globe are enforcing quarantine and social distancing measures. One of the most crucial actions is to limit access to older adults since they are in a group of people who might be affected the most.

However, relatives still need to communicate with their family members, and care workers must be able to provide essential health services. Because of this, Internet-based IoT solutions used in aged care homes are growing in popularity. This includes health monitoring devices like blood pressure testing devices and portable personal health monitoring equipment. CCTV and smart lock solutions are used to enable remote monitoring and access. Finally, socialising is more important than ever; therefore, video conferencing with care workers and relatives is becoming the new norm. These solutions require stable, reliable and secure Internet connectivity, which is a challenge both due to the lack of existing infrastructure, limited access of network installers available during the social distancing period, and technological competence of older adults.

THE SOLUTION

The IoT Solutions presented here revolves around a professional cellular router – the Teltonika UR35, which provides essential connectivity for multiple health monitoring, security, and socialising devices. The internet source is 4G LTE and then the UR35 shares it wirelessly to blood pressure detection and personal health monitoring devices and forwards to remote health monitoring centres. Wireless connectivity is used to connect the smart lock system, which enables care workers and relatives to access the care home or their relative’s home in case of an emergency and get notifications. The UR35 provides wired access to CCTV cameras inside the home that enable visual monitoring to confirm if there is an emergency. Finally, socialising is an essential part of this solution, so the router can provide secure WiFi service to smartphones and personal computers that can be used for video calls.

THE IOT SOLUTIONS BENEFITS 

• Uninterruptable Internet – U35 professional cellular router is equipped with 2 SIM card slots, with which enable you to use two different operators to create a reliable internet source with automated failover between Ethernet and Cellular.
• WiFi – with the UR35 series allows you to connect up to 100 users at a time, with the ability to limit data consumption and create access restrictions.
• Easy to use – Ursalink Device Hub provides easy setup, mass configuration, and centralized management of remote devices.

WHY POWERTEC

Powertec’s believes in a world where everyone can communicate and be connected no matter where they may be with the help of connected technologies. This use case shows IoT solutions using a single professional router, you can take better care of loved ones with the help of IoT and Internet connectivity. The UR35 professional cellular router is deployed in the most complex industrial and public solutions that require critical connectivity but is as easy to use as any consumer device on the market. In this case – it is an ideal and essential connectivity solution to enable better lives of people at risk during these difficult times of the pandemic.