21-06-2012, 01:19 PM
A Framework for Physical Health Improvement using
Wireless Sensor Networks and Gaming
A Framework for Physical Health Improvement.pdf (Size: 1.14 MB / Downloads: 39)
Abstract
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is a recent
technological advancement in Micro Electro Mechanical Systems
(MEMS). It has a large number of applications in the health
sector, for example, the telemonitoring of human psychophysical
data, tracking and drug administration in hospitals. In this paper
we present a novel framework using body area WSNs and
gaming to improve a patient's physical health. The proposed
framework has three main components, the body area WSN, the
game, and the data acquisition manager.
INTRODUCTION
New technologies are invented according to the needs of users
in order to bring more flexibility to their daily lives. The history
of telemedicine is a good example of how communication and
information technology can deliver more efficient and flexible
clinical care on a day-to-day basis.
BACKGROUND
An area that is promising to revolutionise how primary
healthcare is administered is Telehealth. With increasingdemands
to reduce costs the use of technology is being explored,
particularly in the area of periodic assessment. At its simplest
level such systems are being used to contact carers when alarm
conditions are raised [6]. Looking further ahead research is
investigating how technology can be used for the early detection
of illnesses through the real-time monitoring and extrapolation of
physiological data, such as blood pressure, blood glucose levels,
and day-to-day weight monitoring amongst other markers [7].
FRMvIEWORK ItvlPLElvIENTATION
Implementation ofbody area WSN
To establish a WSN the Sun Microsystems newly
developed sensors called SunSPOT have been used. There are
two types of SunSPOT; one is called the base station and other
is called a free range SPOT. The base station is directly
connected with a computer or laptop allowing data to be
collected from the WSN. All free range SunSPOTs are
attached to the patients body, as shown previously in Figure 3,
and preloaded with algorithms to collect acceleration (motion)
values (which includes accX, accY and accZ) and send the
data to the base station using different communication ports.
The base station is connected directly to the computer and runs
algorithms that wirelessly collects data from all free range
SPOTs. Furthermore, all received data is sent to the
middleware for filtering and used by the game component.
CONCLUSION AND FUTUREWORKS
In this paper we have presented a novel framework for
physical health improvement. The proposed system can be
used in-home and within a community setting that
incorporates medical installations, such as hospitals. It has
three components; the body area WSN, the game environment
and the data acquisition manager. A neck physiotherapy case
study was used to illustrate the applicability ofour approach.