Revision History

Editor / Version / Comment
Vignesh / 0.31 / Initial template created
Neha / 0.32 / Updated section 2
Govindarajan / 0.33 / First draft of section 3
Aarthi / 0.34 / Updated functional requirements
Sriram / 0.35 / Cleaned up world issues
Kumaran / 0.36 / Introduced a section for testing
Balaji / 0.37 / Inserted Screenshots for all the features implemented
Sriram / 0.38 / Defined feature specific creeping rate
Neha / 0.39 / Cleaned up content in many areas and formatting
Aarthi / 0.40 / Final Phase-II WRS document

PROCESS

We, the Andromeda team have followed a definite process in creating this HOPE system. We had gathered and discussed the requirements from lot of resources like web, by taking to elderly people who might use our system and based on our own experience from our grandparents and from the elderly people we had come across.

Any requirements which use the term shall indicate that that functionality is critical core functionality that will be implemented in the first version of the HOPE system. Other functionality that is identified by our requirements gathering process that is not considered critical core functionality and may be implemented instead in a later version of the HOPE system will be referenced using the word ‘will’.

The software process that we are using in this system is Spiral model. Change is inevitable in software projects so our process is designed to adapt to the changes and allow modification where necessary to the requirements and other documents.

Process Model

For the implementation of HOPE system, we will follow the Spiral Model.The spiral model is a software development process combining elements of both design and prototyping-in-stages, in an effort to combine advantages of top-down and bottom-up concepts. This model of development combines the features of the prototyping and the waterfall model. The spiral model is intended for large, expensive and complicated projects.The spiral model combines the idea of iterative development with the systematic, controlled aspects of the waterfall model. It allows for incremental releases of the product, or incremental refinement through each time around the spiral. The spiral model also explicitly includes risk management within software development. Identifying major risks, both technical and managerial, and determining how to lessen the risk helps keep the software development process under control.

Figure 1: Spiral model

Project Deliverables

Phase / Deliverable / Date
Phase 0 / Preliminary Project Plan / January 25nd, 2012
Phase 1 / Interim Project 1
 Requirement Specification
 Requirement Analysis
 Presentation / March 6th, 2012
Phase 1 / Final Project 1
Improved Requirement Specification
Improved Requirement Analysis
 Presentation / March 27th, 2012
Phase 2 / Interim Project 2
Improved Requirement
Specification / Analysis
Implementation
Testing
Presentation / April 17th, 2012
Phase 2 / Final Project 2
 Modified Implementation
 Modified Testing
 Presentation / May 3rd, 2012

Project Responsibilities

Deliverables / Developers / Reviewers / Team lead / User / Domain Expert
1.Revised WRS document
2.Process specification / NehaMalloli
AarthiGiridharan / BalajiShanmugam / AarthiGiridharan / SriramSridharan / NehaMalloli
3.Vision document / KumaranSenapathy / BalajiShanmugam / KumaranSenapathy / SriramSridharan / KumaranSenapathy
4.Working model of the system / Vignesh Swaminathan
GovindarajanPaneerselvam / AarthiGiridharan / SriramSridharan / BalajiShanmugam / Vignesh Swaminathan

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose

Unfortunately Old Age has now become a prevalent social problem in our society. In our modern society, where money is the scale of everything, old age people measured as an economic liability and a social load. In addition, old age is unavoidable and thus of concern to each of us. It is strange no one wants to grow old but everyone wants to live long. Old age watched as an inescapable, undesirable, problem- ridden stage of life that we compelled to live, marking time until our final exit from life itself. A statistics says, by 2050 there will be more people in the world who are 60 and over than children aged 14 and under. As people get older, they tend to experience difficulties with hearing, speaking, vision and memory loss, and muscle weakness.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is a branch of study to assist or help people with communication difficulties. It comprises of many techniques, including sign language, gestures, visual aids, pictures, symbols, text-to-speech electronic communicating devices, and so on. It was aimed to help people who only had difficulties in speaking or speaking clearly - in communication. It has found many potential applications in helping people with development disabilities, speech and hearing disorder, autism, dyslexia, aphasia, and so on. But to help elderly or anyone who have more than speech disorder we need to go in depth beyond AAC to find their problem and needs towards their physical and mental disorders and provide a way to live them pleasantly.

So, this project is intended for helping the elderly population suffering from communication difficulties, such as lack of hearing, speech impairment and unclear speech, as well as low vision, weak memory, muscle weakness and much more elderly problem. We are going to help elderly people with above problems with the mobile communication device which serves as multi-functional help device. We hope that our ‘HOPE” system will Helping Our Elder People Easily.

1.2 Project Scope

The broad scope of our HOPE project is to make an efficient

TO-BE= AS-IS(HOPE-Phase-1) + Revised Requirement Elicitation

  • To build an all-in-one solution where the user need not depend on any other device but the mobile phone to meet most of the basic needs and problem specified above.
  • To drastically reduce the level of dependency on a third person as many of the services are available in a pocket device.
  • To develop a user friendly application to support features like emergency contacts, speed dialing, drug reminders, speech recognition, profiles, etc.

1.3 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

HOPE - Helping Our People Easily

1.4 Summary of Domain Requirements

DR1 / The user needs basic knowledge about using the smart phone
DR2 / The phone must have HOPE installed in it.
DR3 / Click on the emergency icon displays list of emergency contacts to be called.
DR4 / Click on icon will convert speech to text
DR5 / Click on icon will convert text to speech.
DR6 / Old people suffering from hearing problem will need a converter.
DR7 / Phone must have an in-built microphone, typically to record the speech.
DR8 / Old people can calculate the calories burnt by using a time-tracker function whenever they go for a walk. This helps them maintain a check on their health.
DR9 / When 2 people have problems in oral communication, they can use pictograms for communication.
DR10 / Some elderly people have the problem ‘Motor Aphasia’ i.e., they have problem with speech clarity. Our system must provide a feature for them to express their message clearly.
DR11 / The contacts page should give a brief description of the picture selected.
DR12 / When the user types a message, the person at the opposite must be able to realize the scenario and act to it
DR13 / Person assisting the old people must be near the phone
DR14 / User must know how to use message board
DR15 / Old people suffering from memory loss due to ageing will need help remembering the location of everyday things placed at home
DR16 / An application should store the location information of the basic things at home
DR17 / The phone should have good sound quality, typically to reproduce clear sound
DR18 / Old people suffering from memory loss due to ageing will need help remembering people and their relationships
DR19 / Some elderly people who have memory loss will not remember to have their medicines at the correct time. This feature will generate reminders to help these people have their tablets at the correct time.
DR20 / Old people may have issues with remembering bank details, SSN, etc.
DR21 / Old people may have issues with choosing foods to eat and to avoid.
DR22 / A Diet Manager feature should assist the user in choosing the foods to eat
DR23 / Elderly people may need immediate assistance in case of emergency situations.
DR24 / A Help Icon feature on all screens should sound an alarm to alert the care taker.

1.5 Summary of Functional Requirements

FR1 / Displays list of Emergency contacts that could be called by a single touch.
FR2 / Converts Voice input in to textual form and if possible in picture format.
FR3 / Converts textual into a voice output.
FR4 / Displays all personal information stored by the user.
FR5 / Sounds alarm to the user at the stored time to consume the medicine and updates medicine stock.
FR6 / Text to speech converter and sound output feature is for people with unclear speech.
FR7 / Prompts the user about the location on selecting the item.
FR8 / Displays the list of food items one should and should not consume.
FR9 / Displays the distance covered and calories burnt in that session.
FR10 / Displays and produces the sound for the chosen picture.
FR11 / Elderly people can securely store Bank details, SSN details under the password protected MyPage feature.
FR12 / Elderly people perform speed dial to their relatives or doctors.
FR13 / Templates are used for Text2Speech as well as PicTalk features
FR14 / PicTalkcreates a message and can either be displayed or sentto others.

1.6Summary of Nonfunctional Requirements:

Nonfunctional requirements are further sub divided in to user specific and system specific

NFR1 / Speech to text converter should be able to convert spoken words to text quickly.
NFR2 / The output audio should be clear.
NFR3 / The icon names should be self-explanatory
NFR4 / Words spoken by the person should be loud enough.
NFR5 / The functionality of the message should be audible to the old person.
NFR6 / The image icon when clicked should read its functionality aloud immediately.
NFR7 / Conversion from text to speech must be as quickly as possible.
NFR8 / Speech should be audible.
NFR9 / The message should be clear to the listener.
NFR10 / The font should be readable to the user.
NFR11 / Emergency icon should always be one click away to provide high accessibility
NFR12 / The retrieval of the photos should be fast.
NFR13 / Store few photos to identify a contact, pet or an object.
NFR14 / The reminder should be invoked at the correct time.
NFR15 / The phone should display the name or image of the medicine at the correct time.
NFR16 / The application should display appropriate food items based on health condition entered by the user
NFR17 / The application should provide approximate calories burnt based the time spent walking
NFR18 / User's personal and bank details should be password enabled to provide security
NFR19 / The Help button feature in the application should sound an alarm when clicked
NFR20 / The alarm sounded should be audible enough to the care taker
NFR21 / The switching between two features in the application should be easy
NFR22 / The medicine stock and reminder stored by the care taker should be accurate and precise since it is critical to patient’s health.
NFR23 / The images should be large enough to be recognized.

2. Issues Related To Preliminary Project Definition

Here we address the various incompleteness, inconsistency and irregularity in the preliminary project definition. The issues are related to domain, functional and non-functional objectives.

2.1 Domain Issues

The domain issues in the project are explained below:

Here we address the various incompleteness, inconsistency and irregularity in the preliminary project definition. The issues are related to domain, functional and non-functional objectives.

Domain Issues

The domain issues in the project are explained below:

Issue IDR-00: Requires Smartphone

Description / The old people should have access to smartphone to use HOPE application.
Options / Option A: Apple-iPhone
  • User friendly environment (+)
  • Expensive (-)
  • No choice in handset (-)
Option B: Android phone is required
  • Comparatively Cheaper (-)
  • Choices in handset (+)
  • Frequent updates in software (+)
Option C: No Phone
  • Requirement not satisfied

Decision / Option B-Android platform to develop our application because it’s easier to develop and also give options in choosing handset.

Issue IDR-01: Basic knowledge in using the smartphone

Description / The user must have some knowledge on how to use the smartphone
Options / Option A: User manual to assist the elderly
  • Understand the working of the application (+)
  • Time consuming in creating manual (-)
Option B: Assume the user know about the smartphone
  • Reduces the effort in development (+)
  • Saves development time (+)
  • If the user does not know to use smartphone, he/she cannot use the application (-)

Decision / Option A-Easily accessible to all users.

Issue IDR-03: Emergency and Help option in application

Description / Emergency and Help is not clearly defined in the project definition
Options / Option A: State Emergency and Help option
  • Improves the project definition (+)
  • User is comfortable when Help is available (+)
Option B : Remove Emergency and Help from project definition
  • Important aspect of the project is removed

Decision / Option A-We redefine the project description and give details about Emergency and Help. We also mark them as important feature in the application.

Issue IDR-04: Convert speech to text

Description / Issue-Incompleteness
Does not specify the icon to be clicked
Options / Option A: Remove the specification
Option B: Clearly indicate the name of the icon
Decision / Option B-Specify the name of the icon to be clicked to complete the statement

Issue IDR-05: Click on icon will convert text to speech.

Description / Issue-Incompleteness
Does not specify the icon to be clicked
Options / Option A: Remove the feature
Option B: Clearly define the icon to be clicked
Decision / Option B-Specify the name of the icon to be clicked to complete the statement

Issue IDR-06: Elderly with hearing problem needs a converter

Description / Issue-Incompleteness
Does not specify the name of the converter
Options / Option A: Remove the conversion feature
Option B: Specify the name of the converter
Decision / Option B-Indicate the name of the converter that converts speech to text

Issue IDR-07: Smartphone should have microphone typically to record speech

Description / Issue-Ambiguity
Implies there are many ways to use the microphone
Options / Option A: Remove ‘typically’ from the statement
Option B: Indicate all the possible ways to use the microphone
Decision / Option A-After removing the word ‘typically’ the statement indicates that microphone is for recording speech

Issue IDR-08: Display Calories burnt in a walking session

Description / Issue: Infeasible Technical implementation and Incompleteness
Old people will be advised to walk in-order to maintain good health. They might want to track the calories burnt by walking. The walking speed may vary from age, health condition and time of the day.
Options / Option A: Remove the feature
  • Important functionality in the application is missed (-)
  • Development time is reduced (+)
Option B: Make assumption on the average walking speed of elderly people and calculate calories burnt based on the assumption.
  • Increases the development time increases due to complicated calculation
  • Includes a feature to promote good health

Decision / Option B-The old people mustbe able to track their healthy routine easily

Issue IDR-09: Use of Pictograms to communicate

Description / Old people with speech disorder will find it difficult to convey their message. They may need a pictogram to display images to assist them communicate
Options / Option A: Remove the feature
Option B: Remove the word ‘may’ in order to indicate it is required
Option C: Clearly define the meaning of ‘need’ and ‘speech disorder’
Decision / Option C-State clearly the meaning of need and speech disorder. Develop the feature accordingly.

Issue IDR-10: Difficulty in Speech

Description / Some elderly people have the problem ‘Motor Aphasia’ i.e., they have problem with speech clarity. Our system must provide a feature for them to express their message clearly.
Options / Option A: The user writes a message on the phone using stylus and it is converted to speech
  • Ease of use (+)
  • Difficult to implement (-)
Option B: Mechanism to type the message
  • Easy to implement (+)
  • Old people may not be expert in typing. Hence they will need time to express their message (-)

Decision / Option B-Implementation is easy.

Issue IDR-11: When an image is clicked, the system tells about the image selected

Description / Issue-Incompleteness
Statement does not specify what kind of images must be clicked.
Options / Option A: Remove the statement
Option B: Specify the name of images to be clicked
Decision / Option B-Clarify the specification by specifying that the images are of the contacts stored and the corresponding details of that contact is displayed when clicked

Issue IDR-12: Understand the situation

Description / When the user types a message, the person at the opposite must be able to realize the scenario and act to it
Options / Option A: Remove the statement.
Option B: Clearly state the meaning of ‘scenario’
Decision / Option B-Clarify the statement

Issue IDR-13: Person assisting the old people must be near the phone

Description / Issue-Ambiguity
Options / Option A: Clearly state the distance
Option B: Expand the statement by indicating that the person assisting the elderly must be able to understand the message
Decision / Option B-Make the statement understandable

Issue IDR-14: User must know how to use message board

Description / Issue-Ambiguity
Options / Option A: Define the message board such that it is understood by anyone
Option B: State clearly whether user must know typing or understand the option
Decision / Option B-Message board clearly defined

Issue IDR-15: Old people with weak memory require a tool to remember location of everyday things placed at home

Description / Issue-Incompleteness
Describe the statement clearly for “everyday” things
Options / Option A: Remove the feature
Option B: MyShelf feature will be used to store location information for important household things like house keys, medical records.
Decision / Option B-A prioritized list of things will be used to store location information for the things in the list.

Issue IDR-17: The phone should be able to reproduce clear sound

Description / Issue-Ambiguity
The exact meaning of “clear” cannot be defined
Options / Option A- Remove the statement
Option B- The statement should be redefined to express the exact meaning of “clear” sound.
Decision / Option B- Define the speaker quality required to successfully run all applications.

Issue IDR-18: Remembering people and places