Camera-based fall detection using real-world versus simulated data: how far are we from the solution?

Debard G., Mertens M., Deschodt M., Vlaeyen E., Devriendt E., Dejaeger E., Milisen K., Tournoy J., Croonenborghs T., Goedemé T., Tuytelaars T., Vanrumste B., ''Camera-based fall detection using real-world versus simulated data: how far are we from the solution?'', Journal of ambient intelligence and smart environments, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 149-168, 2016.Several new algorithms for camera-based fall detection have been proposed, with the aim of reliably alerting caregivers about older persons' falls at home. These algorithms have been evaluated almost exclusively using brief segments of video data captured in artificial environments under optimal conditions and with falls simulated by actors. By contrast, we collected real-life video data recorded over several months at seven older persons' residences. Here, we report on our fall-detection algorithm based on the state-of-the-art, and we present an analysis of the real-life video data. The performance of our detection algorithm was compared with the performance of three previously reported algorithms that used a publicly available simulation data set. All four algorithms produced similar results when using the simulated data. However, the performance of our algorithm degraded drastically when evaluating falls in the real-life data. The false alarm rate was especially high, showing that some challenges still need to be met to make the system sufficiently robust to deploy in real-world situations. We conclude that using more realistic data sets that include longer video recordings and a broad range of activities are essential to reveal weaknesses in fall-detection algorithms.status: publishe