“WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK IN

HEALTHCARE SYSTEM”
A Case Study on
WSN

Submitted by:

Bijay Laxmi Pathi: 1901227284

Gayatri Barnwal: 1901227289
Biraj Kumar Bhol: 1901227285
Amarnath Kumar: 1901227266

C V Raman Global University, Bhubaneswar, 752054

Department of Computer Science & Engineering

Under the Guidance of

DR.SMITARANI PARIJA, DEPT. OF ECE
CONTENTS

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Background of the study
4. Applications of WSN in HealthCare
5. Benefits
6. Challenges
7. Future Development
8. Conclusion
9. References
ABSTRACT

In a health care monitoring system it is necessary to constantly monitor

the patient’s physiological parameters. Recent, advances in wireless
networks and electronics have led to the emergence of Wireless Sensor
networks (WSNs).

Driven by the confluence between the need to collect data about people’s
physical, physiological, psychological, cognitive, and behavioral
processes in spaces ranging from personal to urban and the recent
availability of the technologies that enable this data collection, wireless
sensor networks for healthcare have emerged in the recent years. In this
case study, we present some representative applications in the healthcare
domain and describe the challenges they introduce to wireless sensor
networks due to the required level of trustworthiness and the need to
ensure the privacy and security of medical data.
INTRODUCTION

Globally, the elderly population is growing and the general population is

aging. Life expectancy continues to increase with new advancements in
health care. Subsequently, the length of retirement is increasing.
Currently, healthcare using wireless medical sensor networks (WMSN)
is one of the most important applications of wireless sensor networks.
Wearable medical devices in sensor networks and emerging applications
will improve general living standard in under-served populations with
the advances of wireless and mobile communication technologies.

WSNs for healthcare have emerged in recent years due to advances in

medical sensors and low-power network systems. The wireless senor
network is emerging as a significant component of the next generation
healthcare system. They are essentially multi-hop Zigbee-based system
that uses broadcast or multicast to deliver vital information. The key
feature of such system is fast and reliable delivery of messages
BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an infrastructure-less wireless

network that is deployed in a large number of wireless sensors in an ad-
hoc manner that is used to monitor the system, physical or environmental
conditions. Sensor nodes are used in WSN with the onboard processor
that manages and monitors the environment in a particular area. They are
connected to the Base Station which acts as a processing unit in the WSN
System. Base Station in a WSN System is connected through the Internet
to share data. 

The Wireless Body Sensor Network (WBSN) is a wireless network used
for communication among sensor nodes operating on or inside the human
body in order to monitor vital body parameters and movements. It consists
of a group of sensors that form a network and are attached to a patient's
body in order to acquire physiological data.
APPLICATIONS OF WSN IN HEALTHCARE

1. Health Monitoring:
 WSNs can be used to monitor a patient in the clinical setting or at
home regardless of the patient’s or a caregiver’s location. Monitoring
system is often necessary to constantly monitor a patient’s vital
parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, and
ECG.
 Sensors and location tags can be used to track both healthcare
personnel and patient. Since prevention is better than cure, managing
wellness rather than illness is paramount.

2. Wireless Body Area Networks:

 A body area network continues health monitoring during the
patient’s stay at the hospital or home. It can be useful for
emergency cases, where it sends data about the patient’s health
to the healthcare provider.
 It can also help people by providing healthcare services such as
memory enhancement, medical data access, cancer detection, asthma
detection, and monitoring blood glucose.
3. At- Home Elderly Care
It is generally used for aging population. As we know, in old age,
people suffer from various disabilities and diseases. Providing quality
healthcare to elderly population has become an important social and
economic issue. It gives independence to old members as well as other
members.

4. Telemedicine:
 Telemedicine (also known as tele-care) is a medical approach that
allows clinical work to be performed using information and
communication technology.
 It refers to the provision of healthcare services and education over a
distance using information and communication technologies. It
allows for remote medical evaluations.
 With telemedicine, you don’t have to drive to the doctor’s office or
clinic, park, walk or sit in a waiting room when you’re sick. You can
see your doctor from the comfort of your own bed or sofa. Virtual
visits can be easier to fit into your busy schedule. With telemedicine,
depending on your schedule, you may not even have to take leave
time from work or arrange for child care.

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BENEFITS
 Flexibility: The system collects and communicates data wirelessly
with minimal input from the patient. It is not required that the patient
be limited to his bed.
 Always-on: The physiological and environment data can be
monitored continuously allowing for real-time response by
caregivers. The WSNs allow patients to be monitored and remain
always under medical control.
 Self-organization: Physicians can change the mission of the network
as medical needs change.
 Low-cost: Using WSNs in healthcare provides a low-cost
communication infrastructure that is suitable for monitoring.
Challenge
 It can accommodate new devices at any time.
 It allows providers to deploy technology at the bedside, as part of
normal health care workflow.
 Also used for detection of chronic diseases beforehand.
CHALLENGES

Since wireless communication ranges are not confined, malevolent

threats even pose more significant risks to the patient. For example a
patient’s body data can be accessed in an unauthorized manner, can be
modified, and consequently this can pose a life-threatening risk. Main
challenges are as follows:

 Vulnerability: Vulnerable to various sensor faults and this

vulnerability hinders efficient and timely response.
 Security: sensitive medical data of individuals.
 Privacy: Healthcare applications impose constraint on end-to end
reliability, which measures how well they system performs in the
presence of disturbances.
 Interoperable problem: Due to integration of multiple sensing
devices operating at different frequencies.
 Expensive: Also wireless technologies are four times more
expensive than wired technology due to their difficult setup.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

 In addition to the system can also provide more than one numbers so
that more than one user can receive emergency message.
 According to availability of sensors or development in biomedical
trend more parameter can be sense and monitor which will drastically
improve the efficiency of the wireless monitoring system in
biomedical field.
CONCLUSION

This new technology has potential to offer a wide range of benefits to

patients, medical personnel, and society through continuous monitoring
in the ambulatory setting, early detection of abnormal conditions,
supervised rehabilitation, and potential knowledge discovery through
data mining of all gathered information.

Application of wireless sensor networks in healthcare consists of

wearable and implantable sensor nodes than can sense biological
information and wirelessly transmit it over a short distance.

The biggest benefit to having a wireless network is that it allows

providers to deploy technology at the bedside, as part of normal health
care workflow. Also used for detection of chronic diseases beforehand.
It can be used in military for security purposes assists seamless
communication between individual and machine.
REFERENCES

 H. P. Kew and D. U. Jeong, “Wearabke patch-type ECG

using ubiquitous wireless sensor network for healthcare
monitoring application,” Proceedings of the 2nd
International Conference on Interaction Sciences:
Information Technology, Culture and Human, Seoul,
Korea, 24-26 November 2009
 S. Khianjoom and W. Usaha, “Anycast Q-routing in
wireless sensor networks for healthcare monitoring,”
Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on
Electrical Engineering/Electronics, Computer,
Telecommunications and Information Technology, May
2014.
 M. N. O. Sadiku, S. M. Musa, and O. D. Momoh,
“Wireless sensor networks: opportunities and challenges,”
Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, vol. 4,
no. 1, Jan. 2014, pp. 41-43.
 M. Anwar et al., “Wireless body area networks for
healthcare applications: An overview,” Telkomnika, vol.
15, no. 3, September 2017, pp. 1088-1095.
 P. Neves, M. Stachyra, and J. Rodriques, “Application of
wireless sensor networks to healthcare promotion,”
Journal of Communications Software and Systems, vol. 4,
no. 3, September 2008, pp. 181-190.