Intelligent elderly care system launched in Saensuk, Chon Buri

The pilot project is part of the Saensuk Smart City programme and is supported by Dell, Intel and IoT City Innovation Centre. It aims to improve the quality of care for the municipality’s ageing population through leveraging Internet of Things technologies.
Saensuk Smart City was launched in 2014 as a three-year pilot project with the objective to provide smart facilities for both residents and tourists.
Since around 15 per cent of Saensuk’s 46,000 registered residents are senior citizens, Mayor Narongchai Khunpluem said the local government recognised the need to provide more efficient care for the elderly, most of whom are living at home alone during the day with minimal supervision.
“Under the pilot phase, 30 of the 150 households [with elderly residents] are offered all devices they need to get connected to the healthcare-monitoring system with the support of Saensuk Municipality and its partners. We aim to get all 30 households connected this year. The other 120 households will be in the next phase that might be only partially supported,” Narongchai said.
The project is enabled with IoT applications including wearable devices, gateways, servers and a cloud system.
Under the initiative, elderly people wear a small Bluetooth-enabled smart device either as a bracelet or a necklace, designed and developed by Burapha University and BAESLab. The smart device monitors the number of steps, movements, walking distance and sleeping patterns, and can alert healthcare practitioners when unusual activity is detected such as an abrupt fall, or the panic button is activated.
The project allows nurses in Saensuk to monitor the health of elderly residents remotely through the cloud, data analytics and Bluetooth connectivity rather than physically visiting them. With constant connection to the system, the nurses can respond swiftly and appropriately during emergencies as the wearable devices tell when an incident has occurred, or what type of medical attention was needed.
Data kept via wearable devices is sent through the IoT gateway to the cloud and eventually to the municipal nursing headquarters, where city-wide updates are displayed in real time, and subsequently archived on the system. The solution can also be deployed for other smart-city applications, such as streamlining public safety and maintenance activities, ultimately making Saensuk even more attractive as a tourist destination, Narongchai said.
Cost savings from the healthcare IoT project will be directed into other Saensuk Smart City programmes, such as a mobile-app-based tourist information system that will easily and quickly alert visitors to events, services and other information of interest.
“This pilot project is proof that new technologies can be seamlessly integrated into residents’ lives to benefit both the city and community. The final architecture for this project will be the ideal blueprint for other smart-city programmes not only in Saensuk, but for other smart cities in Thailand and around the world,” Narongchai said.
Thaneth Angkasirisan, country manager at Dell Corporation (Thailand), said: this initial step towards more efficient healthcare in Saensuk Smart City provided robust examples of the new, game-changing benefits that result from combining technologies such as the cloud, big-data analytics and the Internet of Things in mainstream implementations.“We are delighted to contribute our expertise not only from working on other smart-city projects around the world, but also from our extensive work with healthcare institutions,” Thaneth said.
Under the collaboration, the company offers Dell IoT Gateway, used in patients’ homes, and Dell Edge Gateway 5000 Series, installed in the nursing homes, Dell-powered private cloud, and Dell PowerEdge VRTX converged system.
Sontiya Nujeenseng, country manager of Intel Microelectronics (Thailand), said this collaboration created a new model offering an end-to-end solution that can be optimised and customised for different cities’ needs. The Saensuk pilot project will set a good example for other cities in Thailand.“We look forward to more successful implementation of IoT technology to strengthen the vision of ‘digital Thailand’,” he said.