Cyber-Physical Systems for Environment and People Monitoring in Large Facilities: A Study Case in Public Health

Traditionally, public health policies have been based on sociological studies where data are collected by experts, and citizens are informed through media such as television. Nevertheless, new digital society and innovative technological paradigms enable the realization of these activities in a much more efficient and automatic manner, allowing (besides) a personalized and ubiquitous interaction with people. Although different technological solutions could be employed for this purpose, Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) is the most promising one. In fact, in the last ten years, many different cyber-physical applications for environment and people monitoring have been reported, which (we argue) could be employed to support and promote public health policies. Therefore, in this paper it is described a new Cyber-Physical System to promote healthy behaviors to reduce cardiovascular risks. The system monitors people’s behavior (through a laser barrier and WiFi access points), and incentives positive and healthy activities by providing specific digital services. The proposed solution was simulated and implemented, deployed and validated using commercial components and statistical procedures, comparing the obtained result to which obtained from traditional mechanisms.