Union Tool Co, a cutting tool manufacturer based in Japan, will release a system that monitors an elderly person, etc by using an LED lamp equipped with a laser device in September 2015.

The system, "Laser Light," can instantaneously detect abnormalities such as a tumble of the object person and monitor the state of breathing or sleeping by measuring the distance between the LED lamp attached to a ceiling and the object person. Different from monitoring systems equipped with a camera or biosensor, the new system can eliminate the discomfort and tension that are often caused by the feeling of "being watched" or "wearing a device."

Light bulb-type (left) and downlight-type (right) LED lamps. The notebook PC displays measurement results. (Nikkei Technology)

Union Tool expects that the Laser Light will be employed for elderly and nursing facilities, aiming to achieve sales of ¥300 million (approx US$2.6 million) in the first year. It had a press conference Nov 10, 2014, to explain the new system.

CQ-S Net, a company that deals with remote nursing systems based on information and communications technologies, developed the Laser Light and obtained a patent for it. A milliwave (24GHz) radar device and a wireless LAN chip are embedded in a lighting apparatus. And the system measures the distance between the lamp attached to the ceiling and the head of an elderly person, etc by analyzing the reflected light of the radar device and transmits the results to a server via a wireless LAN.

When the object person hunkers down or falls over, the distance between the person and the ceiling suddenly changes. Then, the system notifies a caretaker or a family member who is in a remote place of the sudden change of the person's physical condition.

The lamp is equipped with an LED device and Panasonic's milliwave radar device. (Nikkei Technology)

 

The milliwave radar device was developed by Panasonic Corp's System LSI division. Transmission and reception parts were integrated into one chip by using CMOS technology. It can operate in the FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave) mode, which enables to measure a distance to an object with a high accuracy. It is smaller than conventional milliwave radar devices and can be easily embedded in LED lighting apparatuses.

The milliwave radar device can detect an object up to 8m away from it in the front direction. With an angle of 160° from the front direction, the device can detect an object up to 4m away from it. If the device is attached to a ceiling that is about 3m high, it covers an area equivalent to eight tatami mats (approx 13.2m²) and can detect multiple people in the area, CQ-S Net said.

Measurement results differ depending on the distance to the object. (Nikkei Technology)

The Laser Light can not only detect abnormalities such as a tumble of the object person but also measure vital data such as the state of breathing and the depth of sleep by using the infinitesimal displacement measurement function of the milliwave radar device.

"Because the height of the breast changes by about 3mm at the time of breathing, a 24GHz radar device with a wavelength of 12mm is suited for measuring it," CQ-S Net said.