Low Cost, Modular and Scalable Remote Monitoring Healthcare Platform Using 8-Bit Microcontrollers

Abstract

Medical telemetry is an attempt to reduce healthcare costs while providing ubiquitous features. Several solutions include desktop computers operated by the patient or health care professional, while others use wearable embedded devices, often with ARM or more complex processors, and an online server is a very common choice. In this context, this paper presents a system for vital signs monitoring, strongly focused on low-cost and flexibility over different scenarios. Instead of a complex central processor, the system is build entirely using 8-bit microcontrollers in a distributed, modular and scalable topology. Acquisition modules can measure signals that can be represented as a single updateable number (such as heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure) and can be in any number up to 100. Transmission modules carry this information over radio or physical links, one module for each acquisition module. One main module reads data from all sources and displays in an embedded webserver. All the information can be monitored using any device running a javascript-enabled browser, and no computers are required. The system was verified with reference signals, and processing times were measured. Results show how the data rates vary with each scenario, and respective equations have been found. The scalable modular flexibility might be useful in a systematic approach, with sources being constantly inserted and removed from the system.