Design of a wireless health monitoring system based on M2M communication

Machine to machine (M2M) communication is commonly associated with telemedicine. Applications of M2M technology can be seen in — security and surveillance, building automation, supply chains and logistics management, however, M2M is best placed in healthcare. Nowadays healthcare is becoming a proactive approach characterized by, early detection, prevention, and long-term management of health conditions. The purpose of this paper is to present a prototype healthcare solution based on machine-to-machine (M2M) communication to monitor the health condition of patients. The data regarding patient's conditions can be more easily monitored and analyzed. It also enables the patients to have more control over their treatment regime. The health parameters of the patient are measured by low power wearable sensors [1], and transmitted through the internet via the M2M node. The prototype provides collection, demonstration and storage of the vital information such as ECG, body temperature and pulse rate. This application would bring several benefits: it would increase the health observability of patients, participation and cooperation among doctors, and doctor-to-patient transparency, and thereby decrease healthcare costs. More importantly it will involve doctors when they are actually required, thus making best use of doctor's time.