Healthcare delivery with IP-based sensor networks

Internet and web services contribute to the future of healthcare delivery due to the wide deployment of IP networks around the world. Meanwhile, sensor network as an emerging technology for delivering health information has been attracting more and more attentions recently. As most of existing sensor networks have not been deployed with IP protocol, complex multi-protocol gateways are needed to connect them with IP-based network infrastructures. However, protocol translation is difficult to be designed and implemented. As a result, IP-based sensor network is a promising solution to mitigate these problems. In this study, we demonstrate a system which seamlessly connects IPv6 based sensor network to the external IP networks for remote ECG monitoring applications, where the network architecture is specially designed for smart ward environments. The experimental results show successful communications between the sensor network and external IP networks.