u-Healthcare SensorGrid Gateway for connecting Wireless Sensor Network and Grid Network

Researchers nowadays are trying to implement u-Healthcare (ubiquitous Healthcare) systems for real-time monitoring and analysis of patients´ health status regardless of time and space through a low-cost and low-power wireless sensor network. u-Healthcare system should provide reliable and fast medical services for patients by transmitting to doctors, nurses and other caregivers a large quantity of real-time vital signs collected from sensor network. Currently existing u-Healthcare systems can merely monitor patients´ health status. However, they do not derive physiologically meaningful results by analyzing vital signs. In order to solve the problem we introduce a Grid computing technology for deriving the results by analyzing rapidly the vital signs collected from the sensor network. Since both sensor network and Grid computing use different protocols, a gateway is needed. Thus, in this paper, to build an advanced u-Healthcare system by using these two technologies most efficiently, we design and implement a SensorGrid gateway which connects transparently the sensor network and the Grid network. In addition, we implement a middleware for control and management of the sensor network and a mobile monitoring system for observing patient´s health status on the move.