An extensible embedded terminal platform for wireless telemonitoring

This paper proposes an embedded terminal platform for wireless telemonitoring, which supplies extensible digital interface to biomedical sensors, with a thorough power management unit, a user-friendly interface design and ingenious driver programs to support hardware operations. The digital interface connects the S3C2440 processor with various biomedical sensors to collect physiological signals such as blood pressure, SPO2, respiration, ECG. The signal is processed and sent to the remote workstation with 3G or wireless network in real-time, physiological parameter is displayed on the LCD, the power management unit supplies power of various voltages to the system as well as to sensors through electronic switch for energy saving, and it is also responsible for charging the lithium battery. Special circuit is designed for system startup and soft shutdown; the drivers act as a bridge between software and hardware such as ADC port, GPIO port and USB. The platform is implemented as a patient handheld terminal and tested along with the remote workstation, the results show that the platform is efficient, energy saving, and easy to extend, thus very useful in wireless telemonitoring applications.

[1]  William H. Hayt Electronic circuit analysis and design / William H. Hayt, Jr., Gerold W. Neudeck , 1976 .

[2]  J.C. Lin,et al.  Applying telecommunication technology to health-care delivery , 1999, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine.

[3]  Robert A. Greenes,et al.  SMART--an integrated wireless system for monitoring unattended patients. , 2008, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA.

[4]  J H Sanders,et al.  Telemedicine: Where It Is and Where It's Going , 1998, Annals of Internal Medicine.

[5]  Swamy Laxminarayan,et al.  UNWIRED E-MED: the next generation of wireless and internet telemedicine systems , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine.

[6]  Emil Jovanov,et al.  Guest Editorial Introduction to the Special Section on M-Health: Beyond Seamless Mobility and Global Wireless Health-Care Connectivity , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine.

[7]  Rob Williams,et al.  Linux device drivers , 2006 .

[8]  Yuan-Hsiang Lin,et al.  A wireless PDA-based physiological monitoring system for patient transport , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine.

[9]  W. Chung,et al.  A Cell Phone Based Health Monitoring System with Self Analysis Processor using Wireless Sensor Network Technology , 2007, 2007 29th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.