Session S33.4

ZigBee-Based Wireless ECG Monitor

V Auteri*, C Lamberti, L Roffia, T Salmon Cinotti

University of Bologna
Bologna, Italy

Wireless connectivity has been one of the prominent technological innovations of recent years, allowing for freedom and ease of access to information. In particular in Telemedicine, which puts emphasis on the absence of direct contact between the patient and the physician, wireless devices are the basis for the development of efficient remote monitoring systems, able to provide continuous , real-time, and accurate information on the health conditions of the patient. Due to actual size of electronic components, is it possible to integrate in a single board a device for signal acquisition, processing and wireless transmission (“motes”). Modern transmission protocols allows for flexible creation of networks. This can lead to “Body Area Networks”, where a certain number of motes acquire a full range of bio-signals (including ECG, Pressure, Temperature) and complementary ones (Position), and transmit them to a remote Base Station for processing. However, while using wireless connection as a medium, a number of issues must be considered: ease of network creation, network robustness, data throughput, data loss, and in particular power consumption. In fact radio transmission puts a heavy load on batteries in terms of absorbed current, and, in case of long term monitoring, battery life is of prime importance.
In this paper a portable, wireless ECG monitoring device is presented. Such a device is able to acquire, sample and transmit to a PC, in real time using the ZigBee protocol, a single lead waveform. ZigBee has a lower data throughput than Bluetooth or WiFi, but at the same time offers an efficient relay protocol, good transmission range , flexible network structure and emphasis on power consumption efficiency. Transmission of real-time ECG data is a good "stress test" for ZigBee capabilities. In the present paper, considerations are made upon its usefulness in the field of Telemedicine and Biomedical Engineering, with emphasis on the compromise between amount of data transmitted and preservation of battery life.

(Abstract Control Number: 277)