## 3 Materials and Methods  
The study and application of certain types of portable and easy-to-operate sensors have been growing considerably. Portable sensors, namely accelerometers, with small dimensions, low energy consumption and high precision have been used in many tests in individuals who have pathologies that can limit their mobility, allowing us to validate in real time if a given individual suffers an abrupt fall [50]. In the work presented in [20], several authors who have worked with these and other sensors, show the advantage of using these small devices for following and monitoring people. It is agreed that one of the main problems for the elderly is related to the occurrence of falls, which, in many cases, end up incapatating people, namely due to fractures, and other disabling pathologies, namely those that are chronic, degenerative and naturally associated with aging (osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and chronic musculoskeletal pain (fibromyalgiaiga), among others). People who suffer from disabling psychological and neurodegenerative diseases are naturally excluded. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Technology Parameters** & **LoRaWAN** & **NB-IoT** \\ \hline Bandwidth & 125 kHz & 180 kHz \\ Coverage & 165 dB & 164 dB \\ Battery Life & 15+ years & 10+ years \\ Peak Current & 32 mA & 120 mA \\ Sleep Current & 1 uA & 5 uA \\ Throughput & 50 Kbps & 60 Kbps \\ Latency & Device Class Dependent & \textless{}10 s \\ Security & Advanced Encryption & 3 GPP (128 to 256 bit) \\  & Standard (AES) 128 bit & 3 GPP (128 to 256 bit) \\ Geolocation & Yes (TDOA) & Yes (in 3 GPP Rel 14) \\ Cost Efficiency (Device and & & \\ Network) & High & Medium \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Technology summary comparison: Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) vs. Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) (source: [49]). Currently, mobile communication devices, commonly referred to as smartphones, have several sensors incorporated within them, including an accelerometer, gyroscope and GPS, etc., yet the elderly population often find them difficult to operate, not being accustomed to using this type of technology and, in most cases, having great physical limitations and barriers to the use of technologies, as mentioned in [51; 52]. Thus, in the present work, we propose the real-time monitoring of the movement of elderly people, who are prone to eventual falls, as well as their state of health, both inside of their houses and in the surrounding area, while also monitoring their ability to move, their pulse and their fatigue resistance, using sensors incorporated in non-intrusive pervasive devices. The system consists of an application set composed of software and hardware, namely an application developed for portable devices, based on the ESP32 microcontroller (MCU). This MCU incorporates technologies to support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communications, except LoRa communication. LoRa SX127x or RFM9x transceivers add the necessary support for LoRa communications and the LoRaWAN protocol that is required to establish communications with The Things Network (TTN) [53]. It should be noted that TTN is cloud server-based network communication infrastructure that connects LoRaWAN devices and gateways worldwide. Thus, every time someone connects a Gateway to TTN, coverage is expanded for all users and LoRaWAN devices, thus ensuring extended, free coverage of the LoRa network signal. Equipment with different frequencies exists, depending on the target frequency band (433, 868 or 915 MHz). The frequencies used depend on the geographic region and the regulations of the local Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band, being, in most countries in the European Union and, in particular, Portugal, the 868 MHz frequency band [54]. This can be integrated with a low-cost GPS sensor, for example GY-GPS6 MV2 [55]. For personal use, another ESP32 device with LoRa support can be used, which already includes GPS [56].