Matthew S. Alley

Scenario-Based Traffic Modeling for Data Emanating from Medical Instruments in Clinical Environment

In this paper, the application of individual scenario-based traffic models in identifying the traffic carrying needs of networks in patient monitoring environments is presented. Since the total number of traffic sources is small for a central limit theorem-like approximation, a simple traffic matrix for each scenario can be used to identify the capacity needed for carrying data. The data traffic is classified into three categories; constant bit rate (CBR), On-Off, and Impulsive. In digital communications, the Impulsive traffic is considered a limiting case of the On-Off traffic. Lack of standard mechanisms for digitization of the patient monitoring data offers a unique challenge for traffic modeling. Sample traffic characteristics in a certain scenario are used to demonstrate that the network does not have to be designed for a very high bit rate even if some sources occasionally generate high data rates. This is due to the fact that a source generating high data rate could do so only for a small fraction of time, which results in smoothing out the data over longer periods of time.

Wireless application in intravenous infiltration detection system

The IrDA wireless protocol has been applied to a fiber optics based point-of-care system for the detection of intravenous infiltration. The system is used for monitoring patients under infusion therapy. It is optimized for portability by incorporating a battery source and wireless communication. The IrDA protocol provides secure data communication between the electronic module of the system and the PDAs carried by the nurses. The PDA is used for initiating the actions of the electronic module and for data transfer. Security is provided by specially designed software and hardware.

Comparative Study of Security in IEEE 802.11-2007 and IEEE 802.15.4-2006 for Patient Monitoring Environments

Extensive security is required for wireless networking in health care due to regulations for patient privacy and the necessary availability of protected health information for prescribed entities. IEEE 802.11-2007 and IEEE 802.15.4-2006 are compared with respect to their security provisions in the patient monitoring environment. This study demonstrates that IEEE 802.11-2007 has a slight edge over IEEE 802.15.4-2006 due to the specification of port-based user authentication with IEEE 802.1X/EAP. A security filtering database external to the wireless protocols may provide sufficient support to secure protected health information by automatically filtering protected data from disallowed entities.

Channel Access Comparison of IEEE 802.11-2007 and IEEE 802.15.4-2006

This paper presents a comparison between the basic channel access mechanisms in IEEE 802.11-2007 and IEEE 802.15.4-2006. Based on a data exchange scenario with unacknowledged data, typical for applications with multi-hop transmissions, the maximum and minimum delays in both standards were calculated.