Our Vision for Wireless Medical Sensor Networks
We are developing AlarmNet, an architecture for smart healthcare that will open up new opportunities for continuous monitoring of assisted-living and independent-living residents. While preserving resident comfort and privacy, the network creates a continuous medical history. Unobtrusive area and environmental sensors combine with wearable interactive devices to evaluate the health of spaces and the people who inhabit them. Authorized care providers may monitor resident health and activity patterns, such as circadian rhythm changes, which may signify changes in healthcare needs. High costs of installation and retrofitting are avoided by using ad hoc, self-managing networks.
An overview of the system is available, as are details with pictures and descriptions of the components.
Healthcare of the Future
Research hospitals are already regarded as using the latest in medical technology and techniques. Technology developed there will gradually be adopted by other hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, independent-living communities, and other healthcare providers. The future will see the integration of the abundance of existing specialized medical technology with pervasive, wireless networks. They will co-exist with the installed infrastructure, augmenting data collection and real-time response.
Application Areas
Future medical applications will use wireless sensor networks in varied ways. Some important application areas for the technology we are developing in AlarmNet are:
Continuous, Remote Patient Monitoring
Advances in miniaturization of sensors and processors will open up new opportunities for continuous monitoring of patients for health and safety. Although current trends show increases in homecare, most diagnostic medicine still requires patient and doctor interaction in the clinical environment. A physician evaluates the patient's current state, remembered symptoms, and recorded medical history, and then renders a diagnosis. Treatment often requires follow-up visits to monitor the patients progress.
Low-cost (even disposable) sensors will allow remote collection of medical data, which will provide a continuous history to the physician. The patient may remain more often in the comfort and safety of the home. For example, a patient checking-in to a sleep apnea clinic may suffer disturbed sleep from the unfamiliarity of the environment. Sensors that are given to the patient for ad hoc placement in her living space would enable remote monitoring and eliminate change-of-environment factors. Such healthcare is likely to be cheaper, as well, since scarce clinic resources are not monopolized.
Clinical Trial and Research Augmentation
Unobtrusive, wearable sensors will allow vast amounts of data to be collected and mined for next-generation clinical trials. Data will be collected and reported automatically, reducing the cost and inconvenience of regular visits to the physician. Therefore, many more study participants may be enrolled, benefiting biological, pharmaceutical, and medical-applications research.
Progressive Assistance
As the world's population ages, those suffering from diseases of the elderly will increase. Pervasive networks may assist residents in independent- and assisted-living facilities by providing memory enhancement, control of home appliances, medical data lookup, and emergency communication.
For example, a network detecting epileptic seizures or strokes may collect biometric and environmental data for analysis. If an event is detected, it may provide real-time assistance by notifying emergency healthcare providers and family members.