Article Preview
TopInternet Of Things In Healthcare And Our Lives
Every revolution such as Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution is accompanied by an increase in technology and as a result human life expectancy. Humans are currently living in the Information Revolution wherein new techniques and procedures in medicine such as those in genetics have made it possible to detect faulty genes while the fetus is still in the womb and 3D printing has now enabled doctors to print out organs which would eventually reduce the dependency on organ banks and organs would be custom made to suit the body of the patient. Intelligent prosthetics have made it possible for the disabled and injured to use their injured or lost limbs in a way never seen before. By attaching non-invasive wearable technology to the bodies of the patients monitoring can be done when the patient is discharged from the hospital.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data. The IoT allows objects to be sensed and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit. The concept of the Internet of Things first became popular in 1999, through the Auto-ID Center at MIT and related market-analysis publications (Internet of Things, 2016). The application of the Internet of things to the field of healthcare can have a tremendous impact. New techniques of remote surgery are being tested where a doctor can perform surgeries on patients from the other side of the globe and since robotic arms are used the precision and accuracy with which the surgeries are performed would be leaps and bounds ahead of what is humanly possible. Thus the use of IoT in healthcare would ease the lives of doctors and patients alike. This paper aims to demonstrate the diverse applications of IoT in healthcare as well as in the everyday lives of people and also the wide range of people from infants to the elderly and the disabled who can be helped using IoT.
The most crucial period of a person’s life is when they are an infant. During this time constant monitoring is required and tremendous care is to be taken to make sure that the infant is safe due to the fact that the body has low immunity and the bones and muscles are weak and still developing. The proposed system aims to help monitor the baby while it rests. The monitoring system should include cry detection for when the baby cries, movement detection using RFID for tracking body movements of the baby and lastly the detection of room temperature where the baby is kept. It should be able to rock the cradle and send notification to the parents if any such detection is observed. With the detection of the crying of the baby the parents are alerted via an Android enabled device. This way the parents can monitor the baby from afar.
When the synovial fluid between in the knee reduces due to age or the knee is damaged due to various reasons, some form of knee replacement surgery or corrective rehabilitation is required. The process of rehabilitation can be made quicker by monitoring the knee and tracking the stresses on and movement of the knee. This paper proposes a system to monitor the knee using IoT. Accelerometers are attached to the sides, above as well as below the knee. These sensors measure the acceleration and therefore measure the stress on the knee. Using analog outputs from the accelerometer a microcontroller determines the type of activity the person is currently carrying out such as walking or running. The data is then wirelessly transmitted to an Android enabled device where it is stored graphically for the physician to analyze.
A common problem faced by visually impaired individuals is wearing the right combination of clothes. An assistant is required to hand them the right combination of clothes. But sometimes an assistant is not available to aid the blind person. The solution proposed in this paper aims to solve this problem. The solution involves the use of image processing to detect the pattern as well as the color of the clothing.