Growth of
mHealth technology has seen the emergence of low-power, single-chip radios and
this has allowed the design of small, wearable, and networked medical sensors.
These sensors relay vital data to receiving devices like PDAs carried by
physicians or laptop base stations in ambulances. The wireless sensors allow
monitoring of the patients at home so that the elderly or patients with chronic
diseases can receive treatment and medical monitoring in their homes. They also
increase the efficiency of treatments in hospitals.
Biomedical
Sensor Network (BSN) is tailored to the patient’s own medical needs
and can provide notifications such as alerts to take medicine using an
in-network wearable interface. It can also integrate SATIRE, a body network
that classifies Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) by analyzing accelerometer
data generated by a wearer’s movements. Body networks contain a designated
gateway device that mediates interaction with the surrounding WSNs. This
modularizes the system’s interaction with the body network to ease its
integration.
However,
wireless transmission of patient data presents certain security
concerns. There can be an outsider attack where the attacker
node is not an authorized participant of the sensor network or there can be an insider
attack where the attacker obtains key information by physically capturing a
node and reading its memory. The long-term success of BSNs depends upon
addressing these threats successfully. Several security solutions have been
proposed but there exists considerable scope for further research.
References
Realistic
Applications for Wireless Sensor Networks by John A. Stankovic, Anthony D. Wood
and Tian He
Security
Issues in Biomedical Wireless Sensor Networks by Tassos Dimitriou and Krontiris
Ioannis
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