Testing Intelligent Solutions for the Ambient Assisted Living in a Simulator

The number of proposals involving ICT-based intelligent solutions for the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is continuously increasing. Thus, tests and a validation process are crucial for implementing effective systems. However, testing and validating software systems for the AAL in real environments are onerous and safety-critical tasks. Problems often arise when the software is being installed in a real smart home: unpredicted scenarios can occur, thus forcing the designer to perform complex fixing when it is too late. This paper proposes the adoption of a 3D simulator to speed up the development and testing phases of software for AAL systems, by restricting possible issues occurring during the tests in real scenarios. The paper describes the architecture of the simulator and the implemented virtual environment. Moreover, it presents a use case, highlighting how the simulator allows decoupling the software to manage a smart home from the hardware components.