Design of wireless sensor system for neonatal monitoring
1. DESIGN OF WIRELESS SENSOR SYSTEM FOR NEONATAL
MONITORING
We present the application of wireless sensor technology and the advantages it will
inherently have for neonatal care and monitoring at Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). An
electrocardiography (ECG) readout board and a wireless transceiver module developed. Through
development of this prototype system, we opt to ensure correct data transmission, detection and
display. The wireless system is designed to be suitable for integration into non-invasive
monitoring system to demonstrate the wireless transmission of ECG data from the patient
integrated with electrodes.
Existing system:
Presently, placement of the adhesive sensors and the presence of all the wires lead to
discomfort and even painful stimuli. The disturbance, interruption of sleep, and lack of natural
communication with parents all interfere with the babies’ normal growth and development. So
we go for wireless monitoring.
Proposed System:
In this paper, we report an exploration of utilizing wireless transmission technology for
neonatal monitoring at NICU. We use pulse oximeter, ECG sensor & temperature sensor for
monitoring the neonatal patient. The resulting concept is a wireless device inside a small system
that contains the hardware and software necessary to receive data from the sensors for
monitoring of the neonates, and transmit it to the central processor and display unit. The system
consists of a microcontroller to which all bodily sensors of the neonate (integrated in the Smart
Jacket) are attached i.e., in the transmitter section. Signals from these sensors are translated into
a certain digital value which is then transmitted to a wireless module which wirelessly transmits
the data in a continuous stream to a central processing unit/monitor to ensure real-time health
monitoring by the medical personnel to the receiver section. The wireless data’s are collected in
the PC using .NET software.
