Development and Validation of a Low-Cost, Low-Power Patient Monitoring System Using AmBC Technique

The implementation of Patient Monitoring (PM) in the intensive care unit (ICU), intensive coronary care unit (ICCU) and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), as well as in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) are currently imposes a significantly high cost of investment. According to studies conducted, there are three main parameters required to be measured, which are heart rate (BPM), oxygen saturation (SPO2), Heartbeat (ECG or EKG) and body temperature (T). These are highly needed by the medical personnel to monitor in order to determine patient's vital state. The low-cost patient monitor prototype (named Patient Monitor 4 Parameters or PM4P) was developed using Node MCU ESP8266 platform. To measure the parameters, three types of sensor modules were chosen, namely DS18B20 for gathering the body temperature data, AD8232 for gathering heartbeat data and MAX30100 for gathering heart rate and oxygen saturation data. The prototyping process also included fixation and finalization of electrical circuit on a printed circuit board (PCB). The PM4P underwent extensive validation process by comparing it to the real industrial PM made by healthcare equipment industry. The comparison was done over data gathered by both system that were conducting the same measurement runs in parallel. Results of validation indicates that the low-cost and low power patient monitor prototype can be integrated in the development of a new approach based on backscatter communication over 5G and Wi-Fi network.