Passive vs. Active Measurement: The Role of Smart Sensors

The growing availability of ubiquitous computing capabilities can enhance life quality. New smart sensor devices are constantly appearing in various markets, including the health industry. The functions provided by such modern sensor devices enable system developers to create healthcare systems that were unimaginable earlier. More and more health monitoring devices provide functions that can ease the life of the elderly and ill people. However, this rich set of smart devices pose challenges to system developers and health industry specialists as well. In order to find optimal healthcare system solutions, lots of tests and trials have to be done. In our paper we present three different telemedicine systems of increasing complexity and some analysis results based on real-life clinical trials utilizing the described systems. We examine the willingness of users to use the systems and draw interesting conclusion from those examinations. Keywords-telemedicine; healthcare; smart sensors; measurement