Page 43 - ITU KALEIDOSCOPE, ATLANTA 2019

ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES FOR MEDICAL IOT SYSTEMS

Junaid Ahmed Siddiquee

Ericsson, India

ABSTRACT required attention in budgetary allocations. To set up a well-
equipped center in every town and village will call for
ICT technologies are evolving and advances in the investment not only in money terms but also in getting the
technologies hold promise for applications in diverse trained medical and auxiliary staff to diagnose, treat and help
domains such as healthcare. Along with the development of in the rehabilitation process. To bridge the gap between the
access technologies, rapid advances are also taking place in needs and the supply of adequate and affordable healthcare
related areas, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud is where technology can play a major role. IoT-based e-
computing, and big data. Availing healthcare in the health and m-health applications have huge potential. A
developing countries is costly, time-consuming and, for robust and flexible ICT system is the backbone for m-health
populations located in remote areas, it also means adding in and e-health applications to work.
the cost of travel to nearby towns and cities where expert
healthcare facilities are normally available. Leveraging ICT 2. DEFINITIONS
technologies, IoT systems for healthcare can bring
affordable and quality healthcare to the population through The World Health Organization (WHO) defines e-health as
e-health and m-health applications. The role of ICT “the use of information and communication technologies
technologies is paramount to the success of IoT applications (ICT) for health” [1]. The Global Observatory for e-health
for healthcare. Two such ICT access standards are the (GOe) defines m-health as “medical and public health
3GPP-based 5G technology and IEEE-based Wi-Fi 6. practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones,
However, challenges exist in the ecosystem that inhibit the patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants
realization of the full potential of these technologies. Based (PDAs), and other wireless devices” [2]. Several definitions
on current and future requirements, the paper proposes a of IoT abound in the literature. Recommendation ITU-T
model incorporating key factors impacting an IoT Y.2060 defines IoT as “A global infrastructure for the
communication system and comes up with a set of information society enabling advanced services by
recommendations to harness the Internet of things for interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on
healthcare. existing and evolving, interoperable information and
communication technologies”.
Keywords – 5G, Wi-Fi 6, e-health, healthcare, ICT, IoT,
m-health 3. OBJECTIVE OF THIS PAPER

1. INTRODUCTION This exploratory paper tries to answer the following broad
questions: a) What are the requirements on the access
Good health is one of the essential requirements for any network to implement an effective healthcare IoT system? b)
human. This goes hand in hand with other aspects like food, Identify the challenges that are encountered while
security, privacy and liberty that an individual need to enable implementing a solution to meet the needs of healthcare IoT.
her to perform in whatever field to maximize her full c). Propose a model for the IoT architecture with a focus on
potential. In developing countries, access to well-equipped the communication layer.
and expert healthcare remains a huge challenge. Most
modern facilities are available in the cities and urban centers. 4. DEVICES AND USERS
The rural population is often at the receiving end when they
have to avail of medical care either in response to Devices: Medical devices can range from sensors and
emergencies or in the normal treatment of ailments like heart monitors used for a range of medical conditions. The device
disease, HIV, etc. Even lifestyle diseases like diabetes and types vary depending on whether it is meant for basic
hypertension are increasingly extending beyond urban areas. treatment, diagnostic needs or monitoring. It can be expected
The lack of healthcare facilities can be due to many reasons. that in a healthcare facility there may be a mix and match of
The resources of setting up such centers bring challenges devices from different OEMs. As technology improvements
both to the public and private sectors. The government, for take place, the end devices can become more sophisticated
instance, must make decisions of allotting resources to other including equipment for remote surgery and real-time
pressing needs and rural health often does not get the

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