1. Design, Development and Testing of a Wireless
Sensor Network for Medical Applications
Abstract:
The population of the elderly people is in a steady rise throughout the world, creating the
need to increase the facilities for the care of the elderly. The life expectancy of a human has
increased significantly over the past decade. This means that there are more elderly people living
in the world today than they were 10–20 years ago. There are many people in our community,
who because of age, infirmity, memory loss or impaired judgment can no longer be totally relied
upon, are having pressure put on them to leave their home to stay in monitored environment and
give up their precious independence.
If they prefer to live alone they do however require constant monitoring so that medical
help can be provided immediately in times of dire needs. Surely, with the technology of today,
there is a better way for these people to resolve this problem, so that they can live independently,
rather than being forced to live in a retirement village or old people’s home. Considerable
research efforts have been focused towards in-home monitoring of people, often using wireless
personal area networks.
Existing System:
Some of the studies have demonstrated the feasibility of remotely monitoring activities at
home. In earlier days, values of monitored parameters and their changes can be transmitted
through a wire-line system. It is not convenient to keep on monitoring them through the wired
communication based surveillance. So we need an efficient method to get constant monitoring.
Proposed System:
In this paper, we report the design and development of a wireless sensor network. The
ECG sensor is interfaced with the microcontroller. The sensor transmits the signals while the
electrode is connected to the patient body. This system focus mainly to monitor the patients
details in the hospitals at a time. The transmitter section 1 transmits the signals through zigbee
wireless communication. The transmitter section 2 also transmits the signals through zigbee at

2. the same time. This shows the multiple patient data that transmitted through wireless
communication to the monitoring center. The monitoring section consists of Zigbee, PC and
GSM.
In the PC, when it receive any abnormal status from any patient it will send the alert
message is sent to a caregiver or family member or doctor who could check on the person and
take appropriate action.
Block Diagram:
Transmitter Section 1:
Power supply
ECG
Sensor
PIC
16F877A
Micro
Controller
LCD

3. Transmitter Section 2:
Power supply
ECG
Sensor
PIC 16F877A
LCD
Micro
Controller
Alarm
Receiver Section:
Power
Supply
PC
Hardware Requirements:




PIC 16F877A Microcontroller unit
Zigbee, GSM modem
PC with .Net
ECG Sensor
GSM Modem

4.  Max 232
 LCD
Software Requirements:
 Embedded C
 MP Lab or CCS Compiler
Advantages:



Wireless communication
Low cost and Time consuming
Fast response