2011 10th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Computer and Information Science

Design and Application of RuBee-based Telemedicine Data Acquisition System

Xiaohua Yu*, Xiangling Xia噛, Xuhui Chen*

*College of Computer and Communication
Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, China 730050
Email: xhchen@lut.cn
噛BKQ Production Plant of Xinjiang Oilfield Company
Xinjiang, China 834000

Abstract—Telemedicine can be defined as the delivery of health
care and sharing of medical knowledge using
telecommunication over a distance. This paper introduced the
new technology RuBee which fills the drawback of RFID tags.
As far as known, RFID tags have no network and cannot be
programmable, and RuBee has made tremendous progress for
the development of the telemedicine. In this paper, RuBee
protocol was briefly introduced firstly. Then the design and
application RuBee Router was analyzed in the Telemedicine
System. Finally, the paper introduced the snapshot of the
applications of electronic patient record, emergency
telemedicine and home monitoring etc. in wireless telemedicine
systems.
Keywords- RuBee; Telemedicine system; electronic patient
record; emergency telemedicine;
I. INTRODUCTION
Telemedicine is a new and evolving area in telemedical
and telecare systems. It aims at providing expert based
medical care to any place that health care is needed.
Telemedicine may be as simple as two health professionals
discussing a case over the telephone, or as complex as using
satellite technology and videoconferencing equipment to
conduct a real-time consultation between medical specialists
in two different countries. Telemedicine generally refers to
the use of communications and information technologies for
the delivery of clinical care. Telemedicine includes three
main categories: store-and-forward, remote monitoring and
interactive services[1].
Store-and-forward telemedicine involves acquiring
medical data (like medical images, biosignals etc) and then
transmitting this data to a doctor’s computer for further
processing.
Remote monitoring, also known as self-monitoring or
testing, enables medical professionals to monitor a patient
remotely using various technological devices.
Interactive telemedicine services provide real-time
interactions between patient and doctors.
Telemedicine as a concept was introduced about 30 years
ago. That time, telemedicine systems provide an extension of
healthcare services via fixed wired telecommunications
networks. However, nowadays, with the development of
wireless networks like GPRS, ZigBee, as well as satellite
communication allows telemedicine using wireless networks.
So in this paper, we present a wireless telemedicine system
based on RuBee technology.
RuBee is a new technology to connect a variety of
sensors and transmit information between items and the
Internet, and is considered another revolutionary
technological breakthrough after the Internet and information
industry in IT.
If we want to achieve “wireless telemedicine”, then the
tags play a very important role in telemedicine environment.
In recent years, companies tend to use RFID technology,
because RFID has a non-contact reading and writing, multi-
tag read, data can be updated, penetration and ability to adapt
to the environment and many other advantages. Despite the
numerous advantages of RFID, but in application, RFID has
a lot of shortcoming. For example, it cannot be programmed
to change the information in RFID tags dynamically, RFID
tags may interfere with each other, and during transmission,
the metal and the water will cause serious interference and so
on.
To compensate for the shortcomings of RFID, RuBee
technology has advantages in many aspects, RuBee tags can
be used in the environment that RFID does not work. For
example in the presence of metal or water environment, and
even has serious electronic noise environment. It does not
work like passive or active RFID, in contrast RuBee, similar
to WiFi and ZigBee in that RuBee is peer-to-peer , is a
networked transceiver that actually transmits a data signal on
demand, but is much slower (6-8 packets per second). The
main difference between RuBee and WiFi or ZigBee is that
RuBee works in the long wavelength band using the
magnetic field, whereas typically WiFi and ZigBee works in
the VHF, UHF or SHF bands and with the electric field.
In addition, RuBee data can be stored in either RuBee
tags or stored in the RuBee server, Staff can use handheld
readers to read the information(production date, product
number and so on) from RuBee tags without having to enter
data management system every time. And its reading and
writing distance farther than RFID, so RuBee is much more
convenient than RFID[2][3].
In this paper, we studied the RuBee-based telemedicine
data acquisition system design and application, in the
following sections, analyzed the IEEE1902.1 protocol, and
presented an architecture of data acquisition system which
based on RuBee technology.

978-0-7695-4401-4/11 $26.00 © 2011 IEEE 365

DOI 10.1109/ICIS.2011.64
 II. RUBEE COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL ANALYSIS
A. IEEE 1902.1 protocol description
RuBee tags using IEEE 1902.1 standard protocol, this
standard defines the air interface for radiating transceiver
radio tags using long wavelength signals (kilometric and
hectometric frequencies, <450 kHz). The whole devices have
very low power consumption (a few microwatts on average),
while operating over medium ranges and at low data transfer
speeds. This standard fills a gap between non-network-based
RFID standards and existing high bandwidth network
standards such as IEEE 802.11.
In the RuBee network, there are two kinds of devices,
namely a controller and responder. The controller devices
initiate communications and make requests or commands of
responder devices. The responder device performs the
requested action and transmits a response back to the
controller device. A single responder device can take on both
controller and responder roles, providing the option of peer
to peer communications.
B. RuBee physical layer
The communications between controller devices and
responder devices uses near field, inductive coupling
signaling in both directions, the carrier frequency used for
communications between controller devices and responder
devices is 131,072 Hz. The data clock frequency (one data
bit per clock cycle) is 1024 Hz, as shown in table 1:
TABLE I. CARRIER AND DATA CLOCK FREQUENCIES
Parameter Symbol Value
Carrier frequency Fc 131,072Hz
Carrier period Tc 7.629uSec
Data clock frequency Fdc 1024Hz
Data clock period Tdc 976.6uSec
The communication between controller devices and
responder devices uses either ASK modulation (see Figure 1)
or BPSK modulation with phase shifts of 0 degrees or 180
degrees. Controller devices must support both modulation
methods for both transmission and reception. Responder
devices may support either (or both) modulation methods for
transmission and reception.
 A Request PDU consists of the following components:
Figure 1. ASK modulation detail
IEEE Std 1902.1 communications uses Bi-phase Mark
Coding (BMC). The following diagram illustrates this
366
coding mechanism by showing the data ‘059B’ being
transmitted. The first two nibbles of this group (‘0x05’) are
the same as the synchronization sequence used in response
data packets. The amplitude modulation trace illustrates
ASK modulation and the phase modulation trace illustrates
BPSK modulation. Figure 2 shows five cycles of sine wave
to represent the 128 cycles of carrier that occur during one
bit time of RuBee.

Figure 2. Bi-phase mark coding
With the help of BMC, there is a transition in the middle
of the bit period; if the data bit is zero if the data bit is a one,
there is no such transition. There is always a transition at the
beginning and the end of the bit period. BMC is used in
single density floppy disks and modern digital audio. It is
closely related 6 to the Bi-phase or Manchester encoding
used in Ethernet. The combination of BMC and BPSK
modulation is insensitive to this. In contrast, the combination
of Manchester encoding and BPSK would result in an
erroneous inversion of the data stream. BMC provides an
encoded signal with a low DC bias and an easily derived
clock. Since detecting BMC encoding (or Manchester
encoding) involves determining the direction of a transition
when its time position is relatively well known, BMC has
good noise rejection ability.
C. Data protocol
In the RuBee network, data exchange involves two types
of devices, namely controller devices and responder devices.
A controller initiates communications and provides all
addressing information in the request protocol data unit
(PDU) it transmits. A responder replies to a controller
request with a transmitted PDU that follows the request PDU
by a specified time interval.
Communication between controller and responder is in
the form of request/response pairs. On average, Response
PDUs are less than half the length of the request PDU. This
facilitates the use of physically smaller and less expensive
batteries in responder devices. Responses are transmitted a
fixed interval of time after the end of a request as shown in
Table 2.
TABLE II. REQUEST/RESPONSE TIMING
Parameter Symbol Min Typ Max
Delay from request
Tres 240*Tc 256*Tc 272*Tc
to response
1) Request PDU format
Start, Protocol selector, Address, Frame body, FCS, End, as
shown in table 3.
TABLE III. REQUEST PDU FORMAT
 Protocol Frame displays, and LEDs. RuBee tags with sensors have been
Start Address FCS End
selector body directly embedded into items such as firearms, weapons,
0x0,0x0,0x5 AppProt ID Data Fcs2 0x00 mission critical tools, medical devices, and mobile phones.
n nibbles 1 nibble 8 nibbles n nibbles 2 nibbles 2 nibble RuBee has several advantages as follows˖
Responders reply to a request from a controller device x RuBee Human Safety
when the request is sent to an address that the responder has RuBee operates at such low power that it is not even
been configured to recognize. And in RuBee network, on the scale of absorbed power as determined by IEEE
responders respond to four different addresses, two of which C95.1 (Human Safety Standard). C95.1 is used by OSHA
may be set via commands from a controller device. Multiple to determine worker safety standards. The FDA
RuBee responder devices may respond simultaneously to a determined RuBee devices are a nonϋsignificant risk
request sent to any given address. A responder device (NSR) for use in hospital operating rooms, and a peer
responds to any one of four addresses as shown in Table 4. reviewed 2007 Mayo Clinic study concluded that RuBee
has no untoward EMI effects on pacemakers and ICDs.
TABLE IV. RESPONDER ADDRESSES x RuBee has no wiretapping risk
Address Type Address Range
RuBee is a magnetic wireless signal. Magnetic
Broadcast Address 0xFFFFFFFF signals drop off 1/R3(R is distance from the antenna in
Multi-cast ‘A’ Address 0xFE000000 to 0xFEFFFFFF meters – See Figure 4, Green dot is a good RuBee read
Multi-cast ‘B’ Address 0xFF000000 to 0xFFFFFFFE red dot is a bad read that is in the noise. B2 is best fit to
Individual Address 0x00000001 to 0xFDFFFFFF curve and experimentally is 1/R3.103). Other radio
2) Response PDU format signals and RFID power drops off 1/R in far field. That
A Response PDU consists of the following components: means other RF signals will drop to the same levels as
Start, Frame body, FCS, End, as shown in Table 5. RuBee at 10 feet after a mile or more. In addition it is
well known that ambient or environmental noise from
TABLE V. RESPONSE PDU FORMAT
natural sources goes down rapidly as the frequency
Start Frame body FCS End increases. That makes it easier to detect a high frequency
0x05 Data Fcs2 0x00 RF signal at a distance. RuBee signals are lost in noise in
8 nibble only a few meters and are virtually undetectable after that
0x05 0x00
response code
2 nibbles n nibbles 0 or 2 nibbles 2 nibbles distance. That means no one can listen in on a RuBee
conversation. This provides a very high level of security
D. Responder states over other wireless systems.
Responders have two main states: sleep and listen. In the
sleep state responder device spends the majority of its time in
a low power ‘halt’ condition. When it detects a valid carrier,
it wakes up, and enters the listen state. While the responder
is in the listen state it actively watches for commands. If
there is no carrier for a time out interval, the responder goes
back to the sleep state, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. state transitions in responder devices

III. DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

RuBee is a bidirectional, on-demand, peer-to-peer
radiating transceiver protocol operating at frequencies below
450 kHz and optimally at 132 kHz. This protocol functions
successfully in harsh environments with networks of many
thousands of tags and has a range of ten to 100 feet. Harsh
environment functionality is the ability to read and write data
near steel or water. RuBee works in above harsh
environments and is not affected by water. Steel can actually
enhance the RuBee signal, and extend the range. RuBee tags
and system are easily combined with sensors, buttons,
Figure 4. RuBee wireless signals dropϋof into deep outer space noise
1/R3.
x Better transmission distance
RuBee antennas read all tags in a specified
volumetric area, regardless of which way the tags are
facing, or what is around the tag and the antenna –
including metal and water, and humans. Not like RFID
antennas read a single, fixed direction, RuBee is not line
of sight in harsh environments.

367
 A complete RuBee system should be consists of RuBee
tags, RuBee router and Dot-tag server. The following were
described in detail.
A. RuBee tags
A RuBee Tag has: a 4 bit CPU (e.g. Epson/Seiko),
SRAM (1Kb-5Kb), crystal, and lithium battery. It could
optionally have sensors (temperature, humidity etc), displays
and buttons. RuBee is bidirectional, on-demand, and peer-to-
peer. It can operate at other frequencies (e.g. 450 kHz) but
131 kHz is optimal. RuBee operates at low frequencies, and
a lithium battery can work more than five years. The RuBee
protocol uses an IP Address and unique MAC to
communication with other tags and RuBee routers. RuBee
tags are shown in Figure 5[4].
 management server, manages thousands of RuBee tags,
Figure 5. RuBee tags
Figure 6. RuBee router architecture diagram
In order to achieve performance requirements, power
supply with wide voltage AC and DC uninterruptible power
368
B. RuBee router
RuBee router can manage more than 100 to 1000 tags,
read data from tags and write data to tags, such as name of
doctor, departments and so on. Control module sends a
request message, after modulated, via the antenna, to the
RuBee tag. When the tag receives the request message, the
tag sends a reply message to the router, and then, the RuBee
router send data to the data management server for further
processing.
Since the router works in the harsh environment, requires
high reliability and safety, RuBee routers have the following
main performance requirements:
x Ability to accurately read and write data;
x Strong capacity for conflict prevention;
x High-speed real-time data processing capabilities;
x Highly reliable network operating system;
x Stable network function;
x Stable and reliable power supply system;
1) Routers Introduction
RuBee router works between RuBee tags and data
requires real-time data processing capabilities and high-
speed reliable network, is the main bearer of the RuBee
network. RuBee Router consists of the control module, the
wireless transceiver module. As shown in Figure 6.
supply, and power to take the over-voltage current protection,
thus ensuring the router can work in various environments.
Router's wireless transceiver modules use ATA5279 chips b) Storehouse management
produced by ATMEL. Router control module uses 32-bit There are many kinds of drugs in storehouse, using
high-speed processor SAMSUNG-S3C2440 + multi-tasking RuBee-based wireless tags to manage drugs label, can
network operating system Linux. This platform is stable, greatly improve the efficiency of warehouse management.
reliable, scalable interface, and has a stable and strong
c) Wireless tracking and location
networking features, greatly improved the reliability of the
system. The router can connect to any network via RJ45 In a typical operating room environment today, there are
interface, dynamically obtain IP addresses from a DHCP many expensive medical facilities. We must know whether
server, or through the VPN to connect to the data these devices are in the correct position, which devices are
management server. The router also can through the serial using exactly. With the help of RuBee visible system, we can
port (RS232, RS485), USB interface to connect to the local monitor these devices 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Most
computer, and then through the VPN to connect to the data importantly, personnel will no longer have to leave the room
management server. to hunt for particular devices.
2) System hardware design d) Patient monitoring
To meet the RuBee tag’s function and performance, we RuBee tags can continuously monitor the patient's
use low-power MCU produced by the EPSON (i.e. the MCU physiology, when the disease occurs tags can send alert and
S1C60N16 series). The S1C60N16 Series is a single-chip the exact location of the patients to nurses.
microcomputer made up of the 4-bit core CPU, ROM (4,096 e) Call system
words×12 bits), RAM (832 words×4 bits), LCD driver, serial The traditional call system can only call the nursing
interface, event counter with dial input function, watchdog station, improved nurse call system make every nurse carry a
timer, and two types of time base counter. Because of its PDA, when the nursing station call does not respond to the
low-voltage operation and low power consumption, this call, the system automatically send alert to nurse’s PDA and
series is ideal for a wide range of applications, and is the doctors’ PDA on duty, so that nurses can make a timely
especially suitable for battery-driven systems. response to patients.
RuBee router wireless transceiver module uses the
ATA5279 chips, which is produced by the ATMEL. The
ATA7279 can drive up to six low-frequency-antennas, and
provide a wake-up and initialization channel. It has internal
SPI interface and the data communication interface, low
frequency transceiver data cache module, the data transfer
rate can reach 6Kbit/s, can meet the low power requirements.
C. RuBee Software Features
RuBee server-side software consists of several functional
modules as shown in Figure 7. It provides functions to read
and write tags. The data stored in the tag can be programmed
to change by the requirements of different users. Tags have
two main states; sleep and listen. In the sleep state the Figure 7. Server-side software function diagram
responder spends the majority of its time in a low power halt
condition. When it detects a valid carrier, it wake up, and
enters the listen state. While the responder is in the listen
state it actively watches for commands. If there is no carrier
for a time out interval, the responder goes back to the sleep
state. Software can send commands to the tag switch in these
states to meet low-power purposes. Software also provides
search and configure functions to check the working status of
routers and tags and their configuration, in addition, the
configuration of tags are classified according to different
products, to meet the purpose of classification according to
the tags[5].
RuBee-based telemedicine applications are shown in
Figure 8:
a) Mobile health care
Mobile health care is through the terminal device with
wireless capabilities for real-time data acquisition and query,
to meet the purpose of saving time, improving accuracy,
optimize the management processes, reducing medical cost
and so on.

369
 Figure 8. Medical-related applications
[1]
IV. CONCLUSION
[2]
This paper introduced the basic concepts of the
telemedicine, analyzed the RuBee protocol standards, [3]
proposed a wireless network architecture and based on this
kind of architecture, described the RuBee router, tag design
and the maintenance of the information in telemedicine [4]
application. In addition, because of this system has low
power consumption, safety and high reliability, easy
[5]
maintenance features, has a great advantage in the future
application. [6]
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The work was partially supported by the National
Science Foundation of China (61065007), the National [7]
Science Foundation of Gansu of China (0916RJZA020) and
the Universities Scientific Fund of Gansu Provincial
Finance Department.
REFERENCES
HS Ng, ML Sim, CM Tan, CC Wong. Wireless technologies for
telemedicine.
IEEE Standard for Long Wavelength Wireless Network Protocol
IEEE Std 1902.1™-2009.
B.J. Stinson, J.R. Younkin, C.A. Pickett, G.D. Richardson.
“Application for Automated Inventory Management of Weapons and
Related Assets”.
Wu Jian, Yuan Shenfang. “Design and implementation of a general
node for wireless sensor networks”. Chinese Journal of Scientific
Instrument. Vo1.27 No.9 Sep.2006.
Zhao Hui, Li Wei. “RuBee Technology and Application”.
Application of Electronic Technique. 2009,35(11).
Tin-Yu Wu, Jhong-Ci Wu, Wei-Fang Weng. “Improvement Security
for RuBee Radio-WiMAX Mesh Networks”. The International
Conference on Mobile Technology, Application & Systems
2008( Mobility Conference ).
Hao Jia-wen. “RFID's New Highlights – RuBee”. Hot Focus.
2009,No.5.

370