Telemedicine system: Development of wireless healthcare units with GSM and Bluetooth link

Telemedicine has a potential used with the advancement in electronic and computer. It requires sensors for a health indicators and units to communicate between patients and the doctors. This promote a flexible solution to a home telecare or ICU by develop units for measuring vital signs which are wirelessly connected to a master unit with a Bluetooth link to a personal digital assistant (PDA). These independent units consist of a PIC microcontroller, GSM modem, RF and Bluetooth transceiver plus transducers for the body temperature, bodyweight, pulse rate and blood pressure measurement. Later, these measurements are sent as SMS via a GSM module and to the PDA via a 2.4 GHz Bluetooth transceiver. The data transmission is optimized up to 100 meter distance with accuracy of ± 0.1°C body temperature, ≤ 150 Kg bodyweight, 0~260 mmHg blood pressure and 40~180 BPM pulse rate. A voice synthesizer promotes a user friendly approach for alarming and guiding user when this system is in use.