3GPP Long Term Evolution and its application for healthcare services

The current growth of mobile data usage and emergence of new applications have greatly motivated the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to work on Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is the most recent standard in the mobile network technology to be developed based on GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies with the aim of optimizing the capacity and speed of 3G mobile communication networks. In this chapter, the structures and features of fourth generation (4G) LTE are investigated at the early stages of telemedical research. The paper also provides a comparison of WiMAX and LTE standards on various aspects, as well as the potential of technology in healthcare applications. A survey on telemedicine services using traditional wireless system is presented. Finally, issues and challenges of wireless technologies in healthcare applications and services are deliberated.