Capability study: Mobile
Health at NIBEC
Philip Catherwood (B.Eng.(Hons), MSc, PGCFHE).
“m-Health has the potential to revolutionise
affordable healthcare delivery by alleviating the
systemic pressures on the healthcare industry”*
* http://connectedplanetonline.com
Why m-health promises to be a winning solution
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Low network maintenance
Remote monitoring in rural areas
Phones are always on, computers are not
Carrying a Phone/Tablet is part of a modern lifestyle
Using a small portable multi-communication computing
device is convenient, economical, practical and personal
m-health as a ‘developing world’ solution
Examples of m-health initiatives – Argentina, Botswana, China, Guatemala,
India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru,
Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
Issues include:
 Dealing with epidemics and a shortage of healthcare workers
 Largest killer diseases - malaria and AIDS
Opportunities:
 explosive growth of mobile communications over the past decade offers a
new hope for the promotion of quality healthcare
 Phones offer a management platform for administration and monitoring of
anti-retroviral treatment programs
 Foundations to address the developing world’s health crisis set up by
such philanthropists as Bill Gates
m-health goals
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Develop patient-centered healthcare delivery
Increased self-management of illness
Alleviate the systemic pressures on the healthcare industry
Reduced number of hospital beds occupied
Remote monitoring and smart diagnosis
Improved disease management
Improved compliance with treatment regimes
m-health at NIBEC
Path of development includes:
 Select the wireless technology (e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee).
 For telemetry solutions, connect Bluetooth (e.g. EBWT12-A), Wi-Fi (e.g.
WiFly GSX 802.11b/g), ANT Ultra Low Power Wireless (e.g. Nordic
Semiconductors) and/or ZigBee (e.g. CC2530ZDK) to microcontroller
evaluation board or prototype device.
 For stand-alone solutions, choose suitable target smartphone and install
necessary memory storage to meet the needs of the activity.
 Develop specification for the data capture, graphical user interface, plugin hardware and back-end network topology.
 Design and test software to meet the specification.
 Trial m-health solution based on quality of service requirements, customer
specification and end-user ergonomics.
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Phones
We use a number of development phones;
Those running Microsoft Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 2003
 T-mobile MDA PH20B PocketPC
 HP iPAQ H5550 PocketPC
 Dell Axim X50 PocketPC
-The above have SD slots, Bluetooth, IEEE802.11b, CPU Intel PXA263 400MHz, RAM 128MB.
Those running Microsoft Windows Mobile for 6.5 Professional
 HTC HD2 T8585 Smartphone
-The above has SD slots, Bluetooth, IEEE802.11b/g, GPS, CPU Qualcomm QSD8250 GHz, RAM 578MB.
Tablet PCs
Latest developments in computing technology have allowed clinicians to
have the processing power of a desktop PC in a handheld mobile device.
Platform boasts Bluetooth, Wi-Fi & LAN connectivity. Next generation will
include 4G networking for synchronised rural roaming.
Available wireless technology for m-health
Bluetooth
Radio
module
telemetry
solution
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
mobile
Labview
Bluetooth
mobile
Labview
Wi-Fi
mobile
Labview
Wi-Fi
mobile
Labview
Programming & GUI
There are a number of ways to program phones & Tablets
 Windows mobile SDK (.NET using Visual C#) – professional
programming activities for Windows mobile suite to generate commercial products
 Java mobile SDK (Java code, converted to JVM sitting on
Linux kernel) – professional programming activities for Android mobile OS to
generate commercial products
 Labview (G-programming) – rapid prototyping of concepts
Develop GUI in National Instruments LabVIEW
Examples of past,
current and future projects
Past – ECG onto portable device
 Modify and test embedded software on the
hardware platform (add communication
protocol).
 Alter the LabVIEW code (serial port
information and wireless technology-specific
protocols).
 Re-configure the LabVIEW code for the
implementation of National Instruments
LabVIEW Mobile 2009.
 Execute new software on mobile device and
test functional operation.
Current – Smartphone Point of care device
Current – Smartphone/Ambulatory patient
monitoring device integration
Future – Many projects planned. A small
selection include:
 ‘Developing world’
solutions
(HIV testing, data collection, mobile
medical centre devices, etc).
 Future Point of
Care devices
(Glucose monitoring,
Asthma monitoring, etc).
Continua Certification
 Growing Continua Alliance
membership, with a focus on
mobile communication for
medicine.
 Increased integration due to
wireless medical standardisation.
Quality of Service and network integration
(clinical trials)
 m-health solutions must provide a robust
‘always-up’ service. When the wireless
connection is not available, the onboard
memory must record and store the vital
medical data and forward it at a time
when connectivity is restored.
 m-health solutions must be suitably
flexible to be integrate with current
hospital technologies.