Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 1 Sensor data collection
concept showing ISR sensors
delivering data through a
MANET to multiple
gateways and sensor
monitoring stations
from small and simple thermometers to large and highly functional RF scanners.
Sensors need to report results in near real-time to one or more sensor monitoring
stations (SMS) located at remote locations. A sensor reports events either periodi-
cally or upon some triggering condition. The sensor interfaces with a MANET node
(MN) which in turn delivers the sensor event to a gateway node (GW) which
connects to an external backhaul network to the SMS. The MANET can have
stationary ground nodes to support this communication. A ground node typically has
short-range and cannot support sensors over a wide area. Therefore, in order
to provide a node capable of long-range communication and also having wide
ranging coverage, unmanned aircraft (UA) are out with radio interfaces. The con-
cept diagram is shown in Fig. 1 . As the world's population ages, those suffering
from diseases of the elderly will increase. In homes and nursing homes pervasive
networks may assist residents and their caregivers by providing continuous medical
monitoring, memory enhancement, control of home appliances, medical data
access, and emergency communication. Researchers in computer, networking, and
medical fields are working to make the broad vision of smart health care possible.
This concept has several issues to be resolved in routing, addressing, and the
interaction between the UA mobility and communication. Each sensor event is
considered valuable and requires a reliable delivery mechanism through the dynamic
network to multiple SMS [ 5 ]. Mobility in the MANET may lead to a temporary lack
of routes to the GW. The gateways may connect to external networks via satellite or
cellular links which have occasional link outages. The distribution of the sensors and
available MANET resources may be such that there is never an end to end route from
the sensor and all the SMSs. The sensor is assumed to be simple and should be
isolated from network specifics such as the number and network location of the SMS.
The addresses of the sensors, MN, and external network nodes must be managed not
only to enable the multicast delivery of sensor data to each SMS, but also to enable an
individual SMS to make queries to specific sensors. The MN, in turn, should be
isolated from the specifics of the GW to SMS backhaul network.
Major Goals
We are developing network architecture for smart health care that will open up
new opportunities for continuous monitoring of assisted and independent living
residents while preserving resident comfort and privacy. The network manages a
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