U. Grossmann

Application of ubiquitous computing in personal health monitoring systems.

A possibility to significantly reduce the costs of public health systems is to increasingly use information technology. The Laboratory for Information Processing Technology (ITIV) at the University of Karlsruhe is developing a personal health monitoring system, which should improve health care and at the same time reduce costs by combining micro-technological smart sensors with personalized, mobile computing systems. In this paper we present how ubiquitous computing theory can be applied in the health-care domain.

Context-aware mobile health monitoring: Evaluation of different pattern recognition methods for classification of physical activity

There are various applications of physical activity monitoring for medical purposes, such as therapeutic rehabilitation, fitness enhancement or the use of physical activity as context information for evaluation of other vital data. Physical activity can be estimated using acceleration sensor-systems fixed on a persons body. By means of pattern recognition methods, it is possible to identify with certain accuracy which movement is being performed. This work presents a comparison of different methods for recognition of daily-life activities, which will serve as basis for the development of an online activity monitoring system.

Integration of a Bluetooth based ECG system into clothing

This article describes the methods used to integrate a Bluetooth based ECG system into a T-Shirt. Some of the components are integrated into the garment, while the flexible electronic system is removable so that the garment can be washed. Technologies that need to be improved for manufacturing smart clothes were identified.

Reliable motion artifact detection for ECG monitoring systems with dry electrodes

Reliable signals are the basic prerequisite for most mobile ECG monitoring applications. Especially when signals are analyzed automatically, capable motion artifact detection algorithms are of great importance. This article presents different artifact detection algorithms for ECG systems with dry electrodes. The algorithms are based on the measurement of additional parameters that are correlated with the artifacts. We describe a mobile measurement system and the procedure used for the evaluation of these algorithms. The algorithms are assessed based upon their effect on QRS detection. The best algorithm improved sensitivity (Se) from 98.7% to 99.8% and positive predictive value (+P) from 98.3% to 99.9%, while 15% of the signal was marked as artifact. This corresponds to a decrease in false positive and false negative detected beats by 89.9%. Different metrics to evaluate the performance of an artifact detection algorithm are presented.

Security for mobile low power nodes in a personal area network by means of trusted platform modules

The growing field of ubiquitous applications and the use of resource constrained mobile devices strongly demands for mechanisms to provide the security and privacy of such mobile devices. In this paper we show that especially new teletherapeutic applications are not feasible without strong cryptographic protection of data and platform. Based on the analysis of security requirements, we introduce a mobile low power node that is secured by means of a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). For privacy and security of the communication between the mobile device and a webserver, which is part of the distributed network, we propose a security protocol based on webservice technology that uses the mechanisms of the TPM. Finally, measurements that were done with the secured mobile node are presented. We show that TPMs are well suited for resource constrained mobile devices and are a step towards trusted ubiquitous computing.

System for Body and Mind Monitoring in coaching process

In order to investigate the correlation between stress and cognitive performance, a mobile Body & Mind Monitoring System was implemented. This system has a modular design and contains different modules allowing a long time and noninvasive monitoring of physiological parameters of a test person in his every day life, for instance ECG, GSR, PPG, respiration and physical activity. The functionality of the created set-up was validated and clinical studies can now be conducted.

Web based Teletherapy System for Telemonitoring and Remote Control of Therapeutic Devices

Health Monitoring is a growing field of research and development that gets more and more attention. Monitoring of patients at home by means of telemedical devices is a great chance to reduce costs for the healthcare system and increases the quality of life. Expanding the idea of health monitoring, a system is presented which not only monitors patient’s vital data, but also enables the physician to adapt the therapy from afar by remote controlling the therapeutic device at the patient’s site. Taking therapy of pain with infusion pumps as an example, the shortcomings of current treatment are discussed and optimizations using a teletherapeutic system are shown. The presented system consists of a webserver with webservice interface, which allows bidirectional, secure and fault tolerant communication between the physician and the devices of the patient.

Securely control Infusion Pumps via Internet for efficient Remote Therapy of Pain

Pain therapy is an important part of the current health care system and will become even more significant in future, because of the demographic changes. Though there are shortfalls in medical care of patients with pain. There are not enough specialized clinics and most of the patients do not get adequate therapy. In this paper the authors present a system that can solve these problems in pain therapy and enables specialized clinics to increase their efficiency in order to increase the capacity for pain care. The system combines telemonitoring of patients with the ability to remote control the patient’s infusion pump from afar. The physician is able to adapt the therapy of a patient without the need to visit him personally. Because of the fact, that the infusion pump applies analgesics that are able to cause vital harm, special interest is taken in the security and safety of the teletherapy system.