Development of a Novel Bidirectional Control Telecare System over a Wireless Sensor Network and the Internet

The telecare system has become usable and accessible nowadays due to the development of information and communication technology. Its daily use has been made possible in long-term care through the use of wireless sensor networks. Unfortunately, the person in need of care may not be able to operate this sensor by him/herself. He/she is only able to turn this sensor on and off. Furthermore, he/she may be unconscious when an alert message is transferred. Against this backdrop, this paper therefore focuses on how the sensor can be automatically turned on to begin measuring physiological signals. In this research, a bidirectional sensor controlling design for a wireless sensor network with a Web-based interface using the Internet was proposed. Rich Internet application (RIA) technology was used to make a Web client-side user interface (UI) easier to use. Scalable vector graphics (SVG) technology, recommended by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), was adopted to achieve dynamic charting of the browser. The combination of Ajax and SVG technology provides real-time interactivity and improves user experience on the use of the healthcare system. A complete system which includes the sensors, the wireless physiological detection network, the Web and database server, and the client side user interface was developed. To prove system reliability and accessibility, experiment and performance test of a real case were conducted.