Design Article
Medical monitoring gets personal, goes mobile
Tony Zarola, Vital Signs Monitoring Healthcare Group, Analog Devices, Inc.
2/14/2013 5:17 AM EST
Home/out of hospital disease monitoring and management
It's one thing to engage in VSM for people who have no apparent medical issues, and are trying to assess and improve their lifestyles through exercise, activity, and diet. But when the individual has a condition which needs close, detailed monitoring, the demands on the technology become more stringent.
For example, to provide detailed ECG waveform data, the traditional solution is to use a Holter monitor which records the biometric signals for one or just several days. However, for patients with arrhythmia symptoms (very sporadic), a longer recording time frame may be required, and the monitor should be as unobtrusive as possible.
The final challenge in a successful, viable personal VSM is getting the data "out". As with most engineering situations, there is no single, best solution that fits all applications. The VSM devices cited above use a variety of approaches.
A wireless link is preferred, of course, since it eliminates connectors and the problems they endure: dirt, intermittents, and physical abuse. Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), both in the 2.4 GHz band, have strong market positions, with the latter becoming increasingly dominant in VSM applications.
But don’t rule out network-based approaches, either. For users such as those in an assisted-living facility, ZigBee (also 2.4 GHz) is a viable option and does not require smartphones or similar nodes. Further, even proprietary approaches have their place: the sub-1 GHz ISM band is used in products with low-rate, intermittent data, such as fall detection alarms associated with seniors living alone.
About the author
Tony Zarola is a Strategic Marketing Manager, Vital Signs Monitoring, in the Healthcare Group at Analog Devices. A 24-year veteran with ADI from the UK, Tony has worked in various parts of the company around the world, including periods as a Characterization Engineer working on ADCs, a Marketing Manager in the broadband group, and a Product Line Manager for DSP products. Currently, Tony is focusing his attention on defining new products to support the next wave of medical innovation.
Related posts
It's one thing to engage in VSM for people who have no apparent medical issues, and are trying to assess and improve their lifestyles through exercise, activity, and diet. But when the individual has a condition which needs close, detailed monitoring, the demands on the technology become more stringent.
For example, to provide detailed ECG waveform data, the traditional solution is to use a Holter monitor which records the biometric signals for one or just several days. However, for patients with arrhythmia symptoms (very sporadic), a longer recording time frame may be required, and the monitor should be as unobtrusive as possible.
The final challenge in a successful, viable personal VSM is getting the data "out". As with most engineering situations, there is no single, best solution that fits all applications. The VSM devices cited above use a variety of approaches.
A wireless link is preferred, of course, since it eliminates connectors and the problems they endure: dirt, intermittents, and physical abuse. Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), both in the 2.4 GHz band, have strong market positions, with the latter becoming increasingly dominant in VSM applications.
But don’t rule out network-based approaches, either. For users such as those in an assisted-living facility, ZigBee (also 2.4 GHz) is a viable option and does not require smartphones or similar nodes. Further, even proprietary approaches have their place: the sub-1 GHz ISM band is used in products with low-rate, intermittent data, such as fall detection alarms associated with seniors living alone.
About the author
Tony Zarola is a Strategic Marketing Manager, Vital Signs Monitoring, in the Healthcare Group at Analog Devices. A 24-year veteran with ADI from the UK, Tony has worked in various parts of the company around the world, including periods as a Characterization Engineer working on ADCs, a Marketing Manager in the broadband group, and a Product Line Manager for DSP products. Currently, Tony is focusing his attention on defining new products to support the next wave of medical innovation.
Related posts
. How healthy is your heart?Visit Medical Designline
. Medical electronics: from hospital and clinic to the home
. Freescale floats home teleheath reference platform
. A perspective on invention, innovation, and regulation of medical devices
. Streamlining the design of portable medical electronics
. Medical device spending stuck in the 1990's
. Top 10 medical ‘how-to’ articles of 2012
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information
aarunaku
2/14/2013 11:03 AM EST
If this is the case, will the health care going to cost less?
If the idea of smart monitor help tracing problems early and also reduce risks. It should definitely be helping to reduce trips to doctors/physicians/diagnostics, etc..
It should be similar to how emails replaced letters..
However, there could be a lot of scammers hopping into invade personal information, etc., and cost of maintenance of a smart device may be more than what it is intended to do.
Good luck with modernization without common sense.
Sign in to Reply
aarunaku
2/14/2013 11:07 AM EST
Adding to the previous comment.
The people who design these are extremely smart people.
Great job innovators.
I wish they are better appreciated.
Sign in to Reply
docdivakar
2/15/2013 1:15 PM EST
Nice summary article overall on personal medical monitoring. The security issue @aarunaku raises above is a concern but that is for anything that is wireless-connected with personal information, not just medical industry. The industry has been addressing this with various physical- and application-layer security measures.
MP Divakar
Sign in to Reply