Access Point Selection in Hybrid OCC/RF eHealth Architecture for Real-Time Remote Patient Monitoring

Research on health monitoring using electronic systems is increasing extensively in recent years due to its cost effectiveness, increased reliability, and reduction in human effort in nursing assistance. Currently, low power technologies based on radio frequency (RF) spectrum (e.g., Bluetooth low energy) are significantly used in healthcare. However, its spectrum is strictly regulated and its effect on human health is also a matter of concern. Optical camera communication (OCC) is emerged as a promising technology which can be utilized in eHealth as a complementary to RF. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid OCC/RF architecture for remote health monitoring of patients. The health information will be transmitted in real-time from the body sensors to the eHealth gateway using the hybrid infrastructure. An access point selection algorithm is proposed which will be exploited on the basis of position of camera and LED patch mounted with the body sensors. Furthermore, at the end of this paper, simulation results are presented which demonstrate the performance and feasibility of the proposed scheme.