Abstract :
Abstract - Recent technological advances in sensors, lowpower
microelectronics and miniaturization, and wireless
networking enabled the design and proliferation of wireless
sensor networks capable of autonomously monitoring and
controlling environments. One of the most promising
applications of sensor networks is for human health
monitoring. A number of tiny wireless sensors, strategically
placed on the human body, create a wireless body area
network that can monitor various vital signs, providing realtime
feedback to the user and medical personnel. The
wireless body area networks promise to revolutionize health
monitoring. However, designers of such systems face a
number of challenging tasks, as they need to address often
quite conflicting requirements for size, operating time,
precision, and reliability.
In this paper we present hardware and software
architecture of a working wireless sensor network system
for ambulatory health status monitoring. The system
consists of multiple sensor nodes that monitor body motion
and heart activity, a network coordinator, and a personal
server running on a personal digital assistant or a personal
computer.
