Mobile health–monitoring system through visible light communication

Abstract

Promising development in the light emitting diode (LED) technology has spurred the interest to adapt LED for both illumination and data transmission. This has fostered the growth of interest in visible light communication (VLC), with on–going research to utilize VLC in various applications. This paper presents a mobile–health monitoring system, where healthcare information such as biomedical signals and patient information are transmitted via the LED lighting. A small and portable receiver module is designed and developed to be attached to the mobile device, providing a seamless monitoring environment. Three different healthcare information including ECG, PPG signals and HL7 text information is transmitted simultaneously, using a single channel VLC. This allows for a more precise and accurate monitoring and diagnosis. The data packet size is carefully designed, to transmit information in a minimal packet error rate. A comprehensive monitoring application is designed and developed through the use of a tablet computer in our study. Monitoring and evaluation such as heart rate and arterial blood pressure measurement can be performed concurrently. Real–time monitoring is demonstrated through experiment, where non–hazardous transmission method can be implemented alongside a portable device for better and safer healthcare service.