heal.abstract |
Objective: To design a portable telemedicine system for use in emergency and major disaster scenarios. Design: The system has to be cheap, able to interact with existing medical devices, easy to use, capable of secure, wireless transmission of medical data, video and audio, and function independently of other communication networks. Methods: The system consists of a telemedicine station that serves as the backbone of a feld-deployable flexible communications infrastructure and which can utilise existing medical data collection devices. The architecture consists of a self-configurable communications network based on identical stations, standard IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) protocols, Open Source software and wireless operation over the unlicensed 5.8GHz frequency spectrum. Data transmission between stations is achieved using WPA (WiFi Protected Access). Results: We demonstrated the feasibility of field-deploying an ad hoc communications infrastructure during emergency situations, where other communications grids e.g. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) are absent or damaged. The interface of medical data collection devices, such as biosignal monitors and electronic stethoscopes, with a data network that operates autonomously, was successfully achieved without the need of any user configuration. Data routing for scalability was shown to be supported for several dozen nodes spaced several hundred metres apart from each other. Video and audio data (including sounds from a digital stethoscope) were successfully transmitted by the system with adequate quality. Security of data encryption was demonstrated using a WPA cracking tool. Conclusion: The system offers flexibility for use in disaster scenarios. It utilises inexpensive and widely available commercial subsystems, Open Source software and provides strong communications security. © The Journal on Information Technology in Healthcare. |
en |