Wireless data acquisition and monitoring for healthcare services systems : a thesis in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Masters of Engineering (Electronics and Computer Systems), Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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Date
2011
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Massey University
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Abstract
The aging population brings challenges to healthcare systems. To cope with the high demand
on health professionals and services, the feasible solution is to engage modern technologies.
Wireless communication, service robots and information technology have become the active
research areas for future healthcare systems. In the field of human health, collecting and
analysing the real-time data is vital. New facilities and advanced tools give health service
providers and their patients more choices to readily access and use health information and
collect and store real-time health data. Information technology (IT) has the potential to improve
the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare. IT allows healthcare providers to collect, store,
retrieve and transfer information electronically. Together with modern communication
technologies and intelligent systems, patients are able to monitor their own vital health signs
from home and communicate the results to their health providers wirelessly. This will increase
the ability to address a problem before a patient requires acute care. The ability to remotely
monitor vital signs of a patient in real-time using a simple, low-cost and compact device with a
minimum training time is highly desirable in a society with an increasing aging population.
This research outlines the design and development of a cost effective and reliable wireless
sensing device for collecting real-time health vital signs such as human body temperature and
heart rate. A software system is also developed to provide two-way communications with the
remote sensor device in order to receive and store the collected data by the sensor device in a
central database. The literature review led to the use of ATmega micro-controller, ZigBee
technology for wireless communication and the development of highly adaptable, flexible and
intelligent software written in Microsoft C-Sharp (C#). A unique communication data packet is
also developed and implemented to overcome the micro-controller memory limitations,
improving the reliability of the communication and increasing the security of data as well as
saving power. The system is able to communicate with service robots and host computers via
the network of XBees.
The proposed hardware device is able to collect the human heart rate and body temperature in
real-time. It is light-weight, low-cost, power efficient and maintainable. It can be wrapped around
the wrist and carried with the person. It transmits the data when it is needed and stays on sleep
mode to save power.
The developed software system (T-HBR, stands for temperature-heart beat rate) is capable of
receiving the data from the remote device and storing the data to a central database. T-HBR
allows health professionals such as general practitioners (GPs), nurses and healthcare
providers to be able to collect the real-time data, see the patient‟s history, issue a new
prescription and send it to the patient, other GPs or nurses by e-mails or text messages. The
software can be a component of an individual system or can be used within a network
connected to a central database. The software system supports a high level of security by using
ten different types of encryption algorithms and is also able to import data from other T-HBR
software and merge them into the existing database. It is component-based software with a
three-layer architecture, which allows each component of the system to be replaced separately.
Such a design approach reduces the cost of maintenance and enables more functionality to be
added easily.
Description
This research was conducted in collaboration with Dr Liqiong Tang and Massey University
New Zealand. Aspects of this research, particularly the designed hardware sensor, the
micro-controller codes, proposed communication methodology and the developed software
system are commercially sensitive. The software codes have not been provided in the
publications of this research and only abstract diagrams are used to illustrate their
functionalities.
Keywords
Wireless communication systems, Medical telematics, Remote sensing, Remote sensing device design, Wireless communication device design, Healthcare device design, Medical informatics