  This paper deals with home automation systems that are essential for safe and
independent living of elderly people. These individuals must be able to perform
their Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) without help from caretakers. They must
be confident enough that help is just a few minutes with the systems in place.
The focus will be on the medical and emergency systems, which are most
essential for independent living. Zigbee based Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)
are used to collect the data throughout the home. Smart shirts and smart phones
monitor different parameters of the individual and transmit the data to the
home network. A PC running LabVIEW is used as the central control unit for the
entire house. The house must have a fail proof communication framework for
connecting with emergency services, doctors, helpers and relatives. The home
network is connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and
internet. SMS, email, prerecorded voice-based telephone calls are appropriately
used to report emergencies. A GUI (Graphical User Interface) was built in
LabVIEW in order to control and simulate an entire home. Ambient Intelligence
is built into the system to make it adaptive and dynamic as far as possible.
