Towards Smart Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities in IoT and ML

The COVID-19 pandemic and other ongoing health crises have underscored the need for prompt healthcare services worldwide. The traditional healthcare system, centered around hospitals and clinics, has proven inadequate in the face of such challenges. Intelligent wearable devices, a key part of modern healthcare, leverage Internet of Things technology to collect extensive data related to the environment as well as psychological, behavioral, and physical health. However, managing the substantial data generated by these wearables and other IoT devices in healthcare poses a significant challenge, potentially impeding decision-making processes. Recent interest has grown in applying data analytics for extracting information, gaining insights, and making predictions. Additionally, machine learning, known for addressing various big data and networking challenges, has seen increased implementation to enhance IoT systems in healthcare. This chapter focuses exclusively on exploring the hurdles encountered when integrating ML methods into the IoT healthcare sector. It offers a comprehensive summary of current research challenges and potential opportunities, categorized into three scenarios: IoT-based, ML-based, and the implementation of machine learning methodologies in the IoT-based healthcare industry. This compilation will assist future researchers, healthcare professionals, and government agencies by offering valuable insights into recent smart healthcare advancements.Comment: 32 pages, 3 tables, 2 figures, chapter 10 revised version of "IoT and ML for Information Management: A Smart Healthcare Perspective" under "Springer Studies in Computational Challenge" serie

Respiratory Rate Monitoring in Clinical Environments with a Contactless Ultra-Wideband Impulse Radar-based Sensor System

Respiratory rate is an extremely important but poorly monitored vital sign for medical conditions. Current modalities for respiratory monitoring are suboptimal. This paper presents a proof of concept of a new algorithm using a contactless ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse radar-based sensor to detect respiratory rate in both a laboratory setting and in a two-subject case study in the Emergency Department. This novel approach has shown correlation with manual respiratory rate in the laboratory setting and shows promise in Emergency Department subjects. In order to improve respiratory rate monitoring, the UWB technology is also able to localize subject movement throughout the room. This technology has potential for utilization both in and out of the hospital environments to improve monitoring and to prevent morbidity and mortality from a variety of medical conditions associated with changes in respiratory rate

Embroidered wearable antenna-based sensor for real-time breath monitoring

© 2022 Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/In this paper we present the design and the validation of a novel fully embroidered meander dipole antenna-based sensor integrated into a commercially available T-shirt for real-time breathing monitoring using the technique based on chest well movement analysis. The embroidered antenna-based sensor is made of a silver-coated nylon thread. The proposed antenna-sensor is integrated into a cotton T-shirt and placed on the middle of the human chest. The breathing antenna-based sensor was designed to operate at 2.4 GHz. The sensing mechanism of the system is based on the resonant frequency shift of the meander dipole antenna-sensor induced by the chest expansion and the displacement of the air volume in the lungs during breathing. The resonant frequency shift was continuously measured using a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) to a remote PC via LAN interface in real-time. A program was developed via Matlab to collect respiration data information using a PC host via LAN interface to be able to transfer data with instrumentation over TCP/IP. The measurements were carried out to monitor the breathing of a female volunteer for various positions (standing and sitting) with different breathing patterns: eupnea (normal respiration), apnea (absence of breathing), hypopnea (shaloow breathing) and hyperpnea (deep breathing). The measured resonance frequency shift to 2.98 GHz, 3.2 GHz and 2 GHz for standing position and 2.84 GHz, 2.95 GHz and 2.15 GHz for sitting position, for eupnea, hyperpnea and hypopnea, respectively. The area of the textile sensor is 45 x 4.87 mm2 , reducing the surface consumtion significatively with regard to other reported breath wearable sensors for health monitoring.This work was supported by the Spanish Government MINECO under project TEC2016-79465-R.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Exploring Low Cost Non-Contact Detection of Biosignals for HCI

In an effort to make biosignal integration more accessible to explore for more HCI researchers, this paper presents our investigation of how well a standard, near ubiquitous webcam can support remote sensing of heart rate and respiration rate across skin tone ranges. The work contributes: how the webcam can be used for this purpose, its limitations, and how to mitigate these limitations affordably, including how the skin tone range affect the estimation results.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Wearable Biosensor: How to improve the efficacy in data transmission in respiratory monitoring system?

Respiratory rate measurement is important under different types of health issues. The need for technological developments for measuring respiratory rate has become imperative for healthcare professionals. The paper presents an approach to respiratory monitoring, with the aim to improve the accuracy and efficacy of the data monitored. We use multiple types of sensors on various locations on the body to continuously transmit real-time data, which is  rocessed to calculate the respiration rate. Variations in the respiration rate will help us identify the current health condition of the patient also for diagnosis and further medical treatment. The software tools such as Keil μVision IDE, Mbed Studio IDE, Energia IDE are used to compile and build the system architecture and display information. EasyEDA is used to provide pin map details and complete architecture information

Wearable sensors for respiration monitoring: a review

This paper provides an overview of flexible and wearable respiration sensors with emphasis on their significance in healthcare applications. The paper classifies these sensors based on their operating frequency distinguishing between high-frequency sensors, which operate above 10 MHz, and low-frequency sensors, which operate below this level. The operating principles of breathing sensors as well as the materials and fabrication techniques employed in their design are addressed. The existing research highlights the need for robust and flexible materials to enable the development of reliable and comfortable sensors. Finally, the paper presents potential research directions and proposes research challenges in the field of flexible and wearable respiration sensors. By identifying emerging trends and gaps in knowledge, this review can encourage further advancements and innovation in the rapidly evolving domain of flexible and wearable sensors.This work was supported by the Spanish Government (MICINN) under Projects TED2021-131209B-I00 and PID2021-124288OB-I00.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

2021 ISHNE/ HRS/ EHRA/ APHRS collaborative statement on mHealth in Arrhythmia Management: Digital Medical Tools for Heart Rhythm Professionals: From the International Society for Holter and Noninvasive Electrocardiology/Heart Rhythm Society/European Heart Rhythm Association/Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society.

This collaborative statement from the International Society for Holter and Noninvasive Electrocardiology/ Heart Rhythm Society/ European Heart Rhythm Association/ Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society describes the current status of mobile health ("mHealth") technologies in arrhythmia management. The range of digital medical tools and heart rhythm disorders that they may be applied to and clinical decisions that may be enabled are discussed. The facilitation of comorbidity and lifestyle management (increasingly recognized to play a role in heart rhythm disorders) and patient self-management are novel aspects of mHealth. The promises of predictive analytics but also operational challenges in embedding mHealth into routine clinical care are explored

Recent development of respiratory rate measurement technologies

Respiratory rate (RR) is an important physiological parameter whose abnormity has been regarded as an important indicator of serious illness. In order to make RR monitoring simple to do, reliable and accurate, many different methods have been proposed for such automatic monitoring. According to the theory of respiratory rate extraction, methods are categorized into three modalities: extracting RR from other physiological signals, RR measurement based on respiratory movements, and RR measurement based on airflow. The merits and limitations of each method are highlighted and discussed. In addition, current works are summarized to suggest key directions for the development of future RR monitoring methodologies

Wearable smart textiles for long-term electrocardiography monitoring : a review

The continuous and long-term measurement and monitoring of physiological signals such as electrocardiography (ECG) are very important for the early detection and treatment of heart disorders at an early stage prior to a serious condition occurring. The increasing demand for the continuous monitoring of the ECG signal needs the rapid development of wearable electronic technology. During wearable ECG monitoring, the electrodes are the main components that affect the signal quality and comfort of the user. This review assesses the application of textile electrodes for ECG monitoring from the fundamentals to the latest developments and prospects for their future fate. The fabrication techniques of textile electrodes and their performance in terms of skin–electrode contact impedance, motion artifacts and signal quality are also reviewed and discussed. Textile electrodes can be fabricated by integrating thin metal fiber during the manufacturing stage of textile products or by coating textiles with conductive materials like metal inks, carbon mate-rials, or conductive polymers. The review also discusses how textile electrodes for ECG function via direct skin contact or via a non-contact capacitive coupling. Finally, the current intensive and promising research towards finding textile-based ECG electrodes with better comfort and signal quality in the fields of textile, material, medical and electrical engineering are presented as a perspective