Healthcare and Wireless

Reducing Healthcare Costs With Wireless Technology - Electronics News

While Bluetooth low energy is the only wireless technology capable of meeting the demands of the medical community for reliability, security and interoperability, there are challenges to overcome. For example, while it’s an impressive achievement, the world’s cellular network is not perfect. Coverage is less than total, especially in countries with large tracts of sparsely inhabited land like Australia, Canada or Norway (and it’s unlikely anyone will provide billions of dollars for a 100 percent reliable dedicated “healthcare cellular network”).

And even where the network is fully developed calls can be dropped. That’s annoying when talking to a friend, but it’s a bit more serious for a heart disease sufferer whose wireless sensor is trying to contact a doctor because it detects an irregular cardiac rhythm. In the home, call integrity could be assured by relaying the sensor’s data via a wired phone, but that’s not a solution for a patient that demands full mobility.

Furthermore, the weakest link in the communication chain is actually the 2.4GHz link between the sensor and the mobile phone or landline. This is not because the electronics are unreliable, more because the radio signal is subject to the laws of physics and hence can be attenuated by obstructions; in the worse case a person sitting or lying on the sensor will break the link because radio signals of this frequency can’t pass through the body.

So, if those microwaves aren't passing through the body, then they're being absorbed.

What if that wireless heart monitor ends up increasing heart arrhythmia?