Developing Mobile Ubiquitous Services for the Elderly using Virtual Environments Z. ASGHAR, S. HICKEY, S. KAZMI, P. PULLI Dept. of Information Processing Science University of Oulu Finland. mzasghar@mail.student.oulu.fi , Seamus.hickey@oulu.fi , shaistak@mail.student.oulu.fi , Petri.Pulli@oulu.fi , http://psesc.oulu.fi/ Abstract: - The development of ubiquitous mobile services for the provision of elderly care is a difficult task due to the need to develop customised services for people with a wide range of maladies. This paper describes a method and architecture which is used to develop and simulate new customised ubiquitous mobile services for the elderly. The process first identifies the key processes that are necessary for each life situation through interviews and observations. These processes are then described in Quality Function Deployment model which is then used to develop the ubiquitous mobiles service. The developed service is then tested in a simulation environment, which combines real sensor input as well as virtually generated events in order to test the process before deployment. An architecture describing the implementation of the sensors and service on RealXtend, a collaborative network virtual environment is then presented with an example as to how real sensors are integrated into RealXtend, and how the QFD model is produced. The outcome of this is a virtual testing and validation of the ubiquitous service prior to deployment. The eventual goal is to provide a fast service prototyping environment and also to support large scale simulations. Key-Words: - e-health, mobile services, indoor tracking, Virtual Environments, QFD. 1 Introduction The increasing aging population means that a larger population of some western countries will suffer from a wide range of age related illness’s ranging from dementia to physical disabilities. Supporting the needs of the elderly will mean additional costs on the public finances. To reduce costs, assisted independent living is an important goal. It has been proposed that ubiquitous and mobile services can be used to assist the elderly. However, the development and deployment of services customised to the needs of a patient group is a costly and difficult enterprise. The development of ubiquitous service is not an easy task and for a number of reasons. First, sensors are expensive and it is easy to deploy an expensive sensor network which is of eventual limited use. Second, even a user centric approach that focus on questioning the needs of the user group is not entirely reliable as a means for developing services because information is left out, or not as important as the user really thinks. Third, the most expensive part of a service is when faults or problems are discovered n the deployment phase. Not only is the final product delayed, but sub-optimum sensor networks and communication devices have already been deployed and software costs are considerably more expensive to correct at the end stage of development. A key goal in customising ubiquitous services is to look at the overall method in which such services are developed, primarily focusing on a user centric design and usability study. This is done through modelling of the service using Quality Function deployment (QFD) models and simulation of the service in action. The second part is the development of a simulation testbed in which the service can be rigoursly tested before deployment. Collaborative Virtual Environments can give us a way to visualize the service requirements in operation by simulating the behaviour of the eventual users of the service. Using Virtual Environment we can present and preserve the services in a realistic way. In the Virtual Environment a user can do whatever he/she wants to do even he is not capable to do in the real world just as an able-bodied person can do anything in Virtual world so may a person with disability. Therefore, this paper looks at creating a real/virtual ubiquitous service testbed that operates in conjunction with QFD based descriptions of mobile services. The relevant related research is discussed in section 2. Section 3 describes the overall method Proceedings of the 2nd WSEAS International Conference on BIOMEDICAL ELECTRONICS and BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS ISSN: 1790-5125 219 ISBN: 978-960-474-110-6