A Survey of Different IoMT Protocols for Healthcare Applications

The increasing use of wireless technologies in healthcare has provided new opportunities for remote patient monitoring, medical device communication, and electronic health record management. However, choosing the appropriate wireless technology for healthcare applications can be challenging due to their unique advantages and limitations. In this context, the following study explores the applications and limitations of various wireless technologies used in healthcare, including BLE, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Cellular, LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, and Thread. BLE is commonly used for wireless data transfer from medical devices, remote patient monitoring, and location tracking. Zigbee is used for remote patient monitoring, medical device communication, and home health monitoring. Wi-Fi is used for remote patient monitoring, telemedicine, and electronic health record management. Cellular technology is used for remote patient monitoring, telemedicine, and emergency response. LoRaWAN is used for remote patient monitoring, asset tracking, and environmental monitoring. NB-IoT is used for remote patient monitoring and medical device communication. Thread is used for remote patient monitoring, asset tracking, and environmental monitoring. The study reveals that each wireless technology has its own unique advantages and limitations. For example, BLE has a limited range of up to 10 meters and limited bandwidth, while Zigbee has a range of up to 100 meters and limited bandwidth. Wi-Fi has high power consumption, which may not be suitable for battery-operated medical devices, while Cellular technology also has high power consumption and limited coverage in certain areas. LoRaWAN has limited bandwidth, and NB-IoT coverage may be limited in certain areas. Thread has a limited range and limited bandwidth. Our study recommend that healthcare providers should consider the range, bandwidth, power consumption, and reliability of communication to ensure that the chosen wireless technology meets the requirements of their application

Wireless Sensor-Based Smart-Clothing Platform for ECG Monitoring

The goal of this study is to use wireless sensor technologies to develop a smart clothes service platform for health monitoring. Our platform consists of smart clothes, a sensor node, a gateway server, and a health cloud. The smart clothes have fabric electrodes to detect electrocardiography (ECG) signals. The sensor node improves the accuracy of QRS complexes detection by morphology analysis and reduces power consumption by the power-saving transmission functionality. The gateway server provides a reconfigurable finite state machine (RFSM) software architecture for abnormal ECG detection to support online updating. Most normal ECG can be filtered out, and the abnormal ECG is further analyzed in the health cloud. Three experiments are conducted to evaluate the platform’s performance. The results demonstrate that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the smart clothes exceeds 37 dB, which is within the “very good signal” interval. The average of the QRS sensitivity and positive prediction is above 99.5%. Power-saving transmission is reduced by nearly 1980 times the power consumption in the best-case analysis

A Big Bang–Big Crunch Type-2 Fuzzy Logic System for Machine-Vision-Based Event Detection and Summarization in Real-World Ambient-Assisted Living

The area of ambient-assisted living (AAL) focuses on developing new technologies, which can improve the quality of life and care provided to elderly and disabled people. In this paper, we propose a novel system based on 3-D RGB-D vision sensors and interval type-2 fuzzy-logic-based systems (IT2FLSs) employing the big bang-big crunch algorithm for the real-time automatic detection and summarization of important events and human behaviors from the large-scale data. We will present several real-world experiments, which were conducted for AAL-related behaviors with various users. It will be shown that the proposed BB-BC IT2FLSs outperform the type-1 fuzzy logic system counterparts as well as other conventional nonfuzzy methods, and the performance improves when the number of subjects increases

HOGEWEY : bringing life to those who have forgotten

Dementia is one of the major sources of social and economic burden that societies face nowadays. For that reason, the World Health Organization and the Alzhemeir’s Disease International have been focusing their efforts on raising awareness to this cause. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go, particularly in developing regions. The present dissertation reviews the existing literature on this topic and, in a form of a case study, analyses a success case in the dementia care market. The case study intends to introduce the reader to Hogewey, a Dutch healthcare institution designed to resemble a typical Dutch neighbourhood. Hogewey’s only purpose is to provide high quality care for its dementia patients, by offering them a safe, comfortable and human space to live. After introducing Hogewey’s case, some teaching notes are proposed in order to guide an in-class discussion. Next, the main findings are condensed in the conclusion: Hogewey’s critical success factors are described and a summarized SWOT analysis is presented as some key elements to replicate Hogewey in Portugal. Finally, the limitations of this dissertation are identified and some future research is suggested.A demência é uma das maiores fontes de peso social e económico que, actualmente, as sociedades enfrentam. Por esse motivo, a Organização Mundial de Saúde e a Associação Internacional da Doença de Alzheimer têm focado os seus esforços na sensibilização para esta causa. Ainda assim, existe um longo caminho pela frente, particularmente nas regiões em desenvolvimento. A presente dissertação examina a literatura já existente sobre este tema e, através de um “case study”, analisa um caso de sucesso no mercado dos cuidados de demência. O mesmo pretende apresentar o leitor a Hogewey, uma instituição de saúde holandesa projectada para se assemelhar a um típico bairro holandês. O único objectivo de Hogewey é providenciar cuidados de elevada qualidade para os seus pacientes que sofram de demência, oferecendo-lhes um espaço seguro, confortável e humano onde possam viver. Após a apresentação do caso de Hogewey, são propostas algumas notas para guiar a discussão do caso em aula. Seguidamente, as principais conclusões são resumidas na conclusão: os factores de sucesso de Hogewey são descritos e uma análise SWOT é apresentada, tal como alguns elementos essenciais para a replicação de Hogewey em Portugal. Finalmente as limitações da dissertação são identificadas e é sugerida futura pesqui

When technology cares for people with dementia:A critical review using neuropsychological rehabilitation as a conceptual framework

Clinicians and researchers have become increasingly interested in the potential of technology in assisting persons with dementia (PwD). However, several issues have emerged in relation to how studies have conceptualized who the main technology user is (PwD/carer), how technology is used (as compensatory, environment modification, monitoring or retraining tool), why it is used (i.e., what impairments and/or disabilities are supported) and what variables have been considered as relevant to support engagement with technology. In this review we adopted a Neuropsychological Rehabilitation perspective to analyse 253 studies reporting on technological solutions for PwD. We analysed purposes/uses, supported impairments and disabilities and how engagement was considered. Findings showed that the most frequent purposes of technology use were compensation and monitoring, supporting orientation, sequencing complex actions and memory impairments in a wide range of activities. The few studies that addressed the issue of engagement with technology considered how the ease of use, social appropriateness, level of personalization, dynamic adaptation and carers' mediation allowed technology to adapt to PWD's and carers' preferences and performance. Conceptual and methodological tools emerged as outcomes of the analytical process, representing an important contribution to understanding the role of technologies to increase PwD's wellbeing and orient future research.University of Huddersfield, under grants URF301-01 and URF506-01

A synergistic wearable health monitoring system using cellular network technology

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This thesis presents a synergistic approach to healthcare applications by integrating a wearable health monitoring system into a smart home system. By exploiting synergy within each system and between these two systems, this thesis shows that the efficiency of the health care can be increased while providing the added advantage of utmost user-friendly environment. Initially, a wearable health monitoring prototype system was developed for vital sign data collection and processing. The developed system used biosensor integration to distinguish amongst multiple physical activities and to compare the variations in physiological conditions according to physical activity of the user. Afterward, system learning techniques were established for accomplishing the scalability of the health monitoring system. The resulting system is able to monitor different users without the need for explicitly changing the thresholds for the individual user. The health monitoring was further improved through integration with the smart home system to exploit synergy between various physiological sensors and to reduce false alarms generated by the system. A cellular communication interface was developed for transmitting the collected data to a remote caregiver and also to store the time-stamped data on the online web server. A web interface was developed to allow monitoring user's health and activity data, along with their surrounding environment

Central monitoring system for ambient assisted living

Smart homes for aged care enable the elderly to stay in their own homes longer. By means of various types of ambient and wearable sensors information is gathered on people living in smart homes for aged care. This information is then processed to determine the activities of daily living (ADL) and provide vital information to carers. Many examples of smart homes for aged care can be found in literature, however, little or no evidence can be found with respect to interoperability of various sensors and devices along with associated functions. One key element with respect to interoperability is the central monitoring system in a smart home. This thesis analyses and presents key functions and requirements of a central monitoring system. The outcomes of this thesis may benefit developers of smart homes for aged care

Acceptance of ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies among older Australians : a review of barriers in user experience

One of the great challenges facing Australian society is that of an ageing population. Amongst the issues involved in this drastic demographic change, the most significant aspect is the demand for older Australians to live independently at home. The development of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies aims to address this issue. The advancement of AAL applications have been done to support the users with their daily-life activities and health concerns by providing increased mobility, security, safety in emergencies, health-monitoring, improved lifestyle, and fall-detection through the use of sensors. However, the optimum uptake of these technologies among the end-users (the elderly Australians) still remains a big concern. Thus, there is an elevated need to understand the needs and preferences of the seniors in order to improve the acceptance of AAL applications. The aim of this study is to investigate the barriers and perceptions in the use of AAL applications amongst older Australians. Focus groups and quantitative surveys have been conducted to provide a detailed analysis of these impediments. The results show that there are different factors that restrict the use of these technologies along with the fact that elderly people have certain preferences when using them. An understanding of these factors has been gained and suggestions have been made to increase the acceptance of AAL devices. This work gives useful insights towards the design of AAL solutions according to user needs