Design and analysis of low-power body area networks based on biomedical signals

A body area network (BAN) as one branch of Sensor Networks, is an inter-disciplinary area which holds great promises for revolutionising the current health care systems. BAN combines the real-time updating of biomedical data with the continuous and dynamic health care monitoring closely. A number of intelligence biomedical sensors can be integrated into a wireless BAN system, and the system can be used for prevention, diagnosis and timely treatment of various medical conditions. In this article, we propose a data fusion technique for a BAN based on biomedical signals. This proposed solution is of much lower complexity than conventional techniques and hence can significantly reduce the power consumption in the BAN. The technology is carried out by removing redundant and unnecessary sample information and shifting a large portion of processing and control loads to the remote control centre in an asymmetric manner. This approach not only reduces the power consumption of biosensor nodes in a BAN, but also ensures the integrity of the biomedical information. In addition, we present a self-designed distributed time–space correlation compressive sensing model and propose an efficient algorithm based on biomedical signals. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can not only reconstruct the original signal with high accuracy and but also achieve significant reduction in power consumption.     

Emergency medical services (EMS) communications: Conservation of time

Although adequate means for emergency communications are available, their utilization in daily emergencies and during medical disasters is amazingly inefficient. This phase of emergency health services is undergoing rapid expansion and improvement. These changes will narrow the time gap between the onset of an acute illness or injury and the implementation of techniques of monitoring and skilled management and care. The communications problems which have caused the medical field to lag far behind other emergency services can mostly be solved by existing knowledge and techniques. No longer should communications systems be designed for the exclusive use of one service or agency. First the emergency medical services (EMS) system must precede the communications subsystem. Only after the community has clearly defined its emergency medical needs and has designed a system to meet those needs should it look for the communication equipment that will serve to tie together the various elements of the system. This article defines the functions of communication, identifies communications systems requirements, and recommends means of implementing EMS communication networks. When these recommendations and plans are put into effect the emergency medical communications system will be the most widely utilized, coordinated, and sophisticated emergency communications systems within the area it serves.     

Applications of space communications technology to critical human needs: rescue, disaster relief, and remote medical assistance

The applications of space communications technology to various critical human needs are discussed. Satellite communications, telemetry, and biotelemetry have provided timely and crucial communications capabilities over remote distances. The use of satellite/beacon systems have been used for disaster relief as well as search and rescue operations. The combination of telemetry and electronic medical systems (telemedicine) have augmented existing health care delivery and have provided consultation links between remotely located health care specialists working with patients and physicians at a central location. This has been expanded into networks to respond to victims of disasters in need of critical medical assistance with the hope that with further work, telemedicine may become available to all nations through an international network.     

基于人体局域网的远程医疗系统研究

该文旨在研究并设计基于人体局域网的远程医疗系统,系统中包含有人体多信号传感器节点,基于CC2420和LPC2103处理器的数字处理器模块以及用VC＋＋设计的主节点实时显示监护平台。构建基于人体局域网的远程家庭医疗健康监护平台,集数据收集、传输、分析和决策支持于一体,为在家治疗的患者提供实时监控。人体多信号传感器节点将人体信号,如：脑电信号、心电信号、脉搏信号、体温信号通过CC2420和LPC2103数据处理发射模块发射给集中器主节点,然后发送到远程医疗系统监护平台。通过远程监控平台,医务人员能够及时获取病患的生理数据,并对其进行有效的分析处理。     

Development of a knowledge‐based medical expert system to infer supportive treatment suggestions for pediatric patients

This paper discusses the design, implementation, and potential use of an ontology‐based mobile pediatric consultation and monitoring system, which is a smart healthcare expert system for pediatric patients. The proposed system provides remote consultation and monitoring of pediatric patients during their illness at places distant from medical service areas. The system not only shares instant medical data with a pediatrician but also examines the data as a smart medical assistant to detect any emergency situation. In addition, it uses an inference engine to infer instant suggestions for performing certain initial medical treatment steps when necessary. The applied methodologies and main technical contributions have three aspects: (a) pediatric consultation and monitoring ontology, (b) semantic Web rule knowledge base, and (c) inference engine. Two case studies with real pediatric patients are provided and discussed. The reported results of the applied case studies are promising, and they demonstrate the applicability, effectiveness, and efficiency of the proposed approach.     

一种应用于移动健康医疗的Android客户端的研究

目前,医疗护理在生活中的作用越来越重要,而传统健康医疗大都局限于医院等固定场所,不便于用户的移动。为了实现医疗护理移动化的目的,可以结合先进的移动通信技术,设计一种新型的医疗健康系统,并采用Android手机作为系统协调器,Android手机不但可以接收节点采集到的数据,还可以把这些实时数据发送到远端服务器。通过在Eclipse软件下的编程测试结果表明,Android手机可以成功实现对数据的收发,这对于医疗护理实现移动化具有重要的参考价值。     

A pilot data system for a medical center

Progress in the electronic data processing industry has been noted with interest by the medical community. A need for improvements in data handling in hospitals exists, particularly in those areas directly involved with patient care. Major objectives of a multipurpose hospital medical data system are identified, in addition to important problems. A pilot medical system is described which consists essentially of a central computer facility connected on-line with a remote multiterminal hospital data system. It is designed for the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of multiple categories of medical data. The basic design incorporates the capability of modular expansion into nearly all professional and administrative hospital functions.     

基于无线传感器网络的远程体域网研究

针对非住院病人移动监测与紧急支援,提出了基于无线传感器网络技术的远程医疗监护系统,介绍了一种人体无线健康监测系统的设计方法。对无线监测节点、网关CDMA支持节点硬件电路、无线WEB服务器的电路结构、系统软件编程设计给出了详细论述。该系统实现了人体监测节点无线网络化,客户端浏览实时数据方便实用。研究结果表明系统利用Zigbee技术将人体信息采集系统集成为体域网,利用CDMA网络实现数据远程传输,有很大医学价值。     

A secure and efficient remote patient‐monitoring authentication protocol for cloud‐IoT

The ongoing Cloud‐IoT (Internet of Things)–based technological advancements have revolutionized the ways in which remote patients could be monitored and provided with health care facilities. The real‐time monitoring of patient's health leads to dispensing the right medical treatment at the right time. The health professionals need to access patients' sensitive data for such monitoring, and if treated with negligence, it could also be used for malevolent objectives by the adversary. Hence, the Cloud‐IoT–based technology gains could only be conferred to the patients and health professionals, if the latter authenticate one another properly. Many authentication protocols are proposed for remote patient health care monitoring, but with limitations. Lately, Sharma and Kalra (DOI: 10.1007/s40998‐018‐0146‐5) present a remote patient‐monitoring authentication scheme based on body sensors. However, we discover that the scheme still bears many drawbacks including stolen smart card attack, session key compromise, and user impersonation attacks. In view of those limitations, we have designed an efficient authentication protocol for remote patient health monitoring that counters all the above‐mentioned drawbacks. Moreover, we prove the security features of our protocol using BAN logic‐based formal security analysis and validate the results in ProVerif automated security tool.     

Lifetime Estimation of Wireless Body Area Sensor Networks Using Probabilistic Analysis

A framework is proposed for estimating the lifetime of wireless body area sensor network (WBASN) using probabilistic analysis and Monte Carlo simulation. WBASN implements real-time health monitoring by outfitting patients with wireless, wearable vital sign sensors. In health monitoring, the loss of critical or emergency information is a serious issue so there is a need to ensure quality of service. It is important to have an estimate of the lifetime of the network in order to replace or recharge the batteries because the loss of critical data is not acceptable. The lifetime of the WBASN is defined as the duration of time until the first node fails due to battery depletion. Heart rate and blood glucose are monitored at a central location in a managed health care environment for this evaluation of WBASN performance. A parametric model of a health monitoring network (HMN) is created with sets of random input distributions. Probabilistic analysis is used to determine the timing and distribution of node failure in the HMN.     

基于无线传感网络的手机实时医疗监护系统简

针对通过住院观察病人的心电图来对心血管疾病进行诊断的方法的不足,文中采用无线传感网络作为监控系统的信息采集平台,将其应用于人体健康监控领域,设计并实现了一款基于无线传感网络的手机实时医疗监护系统。系统通过无线传感网络来对患者的心电数据进行集中式管理．并可通过医生工作站来实现对患者的远程病情诊断。与目前现有的远程医疗监护系统相比,基于无线佳感网络的手机实时医疗监护系统具有精确度高、实时性好、能耗低、部署方便、设备廉价等一系列优势。     

基于Web的远程实时应急监控系统研究

随着网络技术的发展,远程监控技术也得到了广泛的应用.在应用管理系统中,远程实时应急监控系统可以应急管理区域进行实时监控管理,实现数据信息实时性的交换.本文对应急管理监控系统及远程监控技术进行了分析和研究,结合应急管理系统工作的实际情况和应急监控技术的需要,采用Web技术对远程实时应急监控系统进行了设计和研究.     

基于B/S新生儿疾病筛查系统实现与应用

基于B/S架构的新生儿疾病筛查系统解决了区域范围内产科医院、妇幼保健院以及卫生管理单位的筛查、治疗、召回、工作监督等日常工作。同时与妇幼保健系统进行联动,达到信息共享和信息安全,实现信息管理规范化,提高各项管理指标。     

Enhanced Optical Wireless Communication System for Bio-signal Monitoring Applications

Wireless Personal Communications - In this paper, optical wireless communication (OWC) technology based mobile remote care unit is proposed. Since, the existing RF based medical systems are suffer...     

Miniature in vivo Robots for Remote and Harsh Environments

Long-term human space exploration will require contingencies for emergency medical procedures including some capability to perform surgery. The ability to perform minimally invasive surgery (MIS) would be an important capability. The use of small incisions reduces surgical risk, but also eliminates the ability of the surgeon to view and touch the surgical environment directly. Robotic surgery, or telerobotic surgery, may provide emergency surgical care in remote or harsh environments such as space flight, or extremely forward environments such as battlefields. However, because current surgical robots are large and require extensive support personnel, their implementation has remained limited in forward environments, and they would be difficult, or impossible, to use in space flight or on battlefields. This paper presents experimental analysis of miniature fixed-base and mobile in vivo robots to support MIS surgery in remote and harsh environments. The objective is to develop wireless imaging and task-assisting robots that can be placed inside the abdominal cavity during surgery. Such robots will provide surgical task assistance and enable an on-site or remote surgeon to view the surgical environment from multiple angles. This approach is applicable to long-duration space flight, battlefield situations, and for traditional medical centers and other remote surgical locations.     

Miniature in vivo robots for remote and harsh environments

Long-term human space exploration will require contingencies for emergency medical procedures including some capability to perform surgery. The ability to perform minimally invasive surgery (MIS) would be an important capability. The use of small incisions reduces surgical risk, but also eliminates the ability of the surgeon to view and touch the surgical environment directly. Robotic surgery, or telerobotic surgery, may provide emergency surgical care in remote or harsh environments such as space flight, or extremely forward environments such as battlefields. However, because current surgical robots are large and require extensive support personnel, their implementation has remained limited in forward environments, and they would be difficult, or impossible, to use in space flight or on battlefields. This paper presents experimental analysis of miniature fixed-base and mobile in vivo robots to support MIS surgery in remote and harsh environments. The objective is to develop wireless imaging and task-assisting robots that can be placed inside the abdominal cavity during surgery. Such robots will provide surgical task assistance and enable an on-site or remote surgeon to view the surgical environment from multiple angles. This approach is applicable to long-duration space flight, battlefield situations, and for traditional medical centers and other remote surgical locations.     

Continuous Path Controller for the Remote Ultrasound Diagnostic System

A master-slave type remote ultrasound diagnostic system has been developed. The impedance controller has been implemented and reported for the positions of the master and slave manipulators to display and control the contact force between the ultrasound probe and the affected area. The present paper introduces an alternative orientation controller utilizing continuous path (CP) control in the remote ultrasound diagnostic system. The major contribution of the present paper is an introduction to the velocity-control-based CP controller for the master-slave type remote medical system, which realizes the continuous motion of the slave manipulator without a reduction in the master motion tracking performance. It is difficult to communicate information for control at high sampling rates between the master and slave site because the communication network between the master and slave site (local area network, integrated services digital network, asymmetric digital subscriber line, etc.) is limited. To cope with this problem, the CP controller was introduced to the orientation controller in special remote medical systems. The CP control realizes the continuous motion of the slave manipulator under the limited sampling rate of the orientation data transmitted by the master manipulator and high master motion tracking performance of the slave manipulator. This allows the slave manipulator safety to be improved and decreases the volume of the transmitted data. The experimental results demonstrate the accuracy of the path control of the slave manipulator using the CP control in the master--slave manipulation system, compared with the conventional point-to-point control.     

On-Cloud Healthcare Clinic: An e-health consultancy approach for remote communities in a developing country

Advances in telecommunication and online service solutions help to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban healthcare services, enabling provision of suitable medical diagnosis and treatment consultations. Although applying e-health solutions has brought some positive impact full potential has not yet been realised, especially in regions where expertise is scarce. In this study we develop and evaluate an e-health consultancy system utilizing cloud computing (we so called “On-Cloud Healthcare Clinic”) that enables doctors and healthcare workers to identify and treat non-communicable diseases in rural and remote communities in Bangladesh, a developing nation.Adopting a design science research approach we developed the solution based around stakeholders’ collaborative participation in prototyping and then evaluated the design using focus groups. The cloud-based solution supports doctors in evaluating and diagnosing patients’ data and medical history through intermediary health care workers or community clinics. The design also knowledgeably allows informed decisions on a course of treatment with follow up for remote or underserved communities. Previously unavailable clinical work is thus practically achieved through utilization of the cloud based e-health system, and generalisation of this approach in healthcare management is discussed.     

基于GSM网络的多路终端远程智能广播系统

为真正体现广播作为处理突发事件的工具的功能,设计研制了一种基于全球移动通信系统(Global System for Mobile communications,GSM)网络的音频功率播放器。在现有广播技术的基础上,结合GSM无线通信技术,使用单片机系统作为中心处理器,解决对各个终端的同时访问和有效控制,实现了一对多个终端站点同时广播。能够实现远程操控,且设置了安全权限,实现无人值守的全自动智能控制多终端音频广播系统。特别适用于远程多站点同时广播。     

A Novel Ensemble Method for PTB Classification in CXRs

Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is a contagious disease that affects the lung region. PTB is a life-threatening disease if it is detected late or left untreated. To perform the initial screening of PTB, the World Health Organization has recommended chest radiograph. Till now, the screening process requires either the patients to come to secondary health centers from rural areas or the radiologists to go the remote locations. This process is rejuvenated with the introduction of computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems. CAD systems reduce the need for expert radiologists in the screening process. However, the development and deployment are still in the early phases as new methods are being developed to improve the performance of CAD systems in terms of accuracy, specificity and sensitivity. In this study, a deep learning-based PTB classification system has been presented that achieves the state-of-the-art performance for TB classification. Firstly, a proposed architecture based on the blocks is presented and then it is used to create an ensemble. In the proposed ensemble, two standard architectures namely AlexNet, and ResNet have also been used in addition to the proposed architecture. All the architectures are trained and evaluated on a combined dataset formed using publicly available standard datasets. The proposed ensemble attains the accuracy of 90.00% and area under the curve equal to 0.96, which is better than the performance of the existing methods.