Comparative study on-short range communications modules for next generation mobile ECG management systems

In recent years M-health has become one of the key innovations in e-healthcare services delivery, especially for chronic disease management. In particular, for chronic heart diseases there has always been a need to monitor and record the electrical activity of the heart. As of late there has been a rise in chronic heart conditions resulting from the increasingly sedentary lifestyle that populations have, and as such a rising need to monitor a growing number of patients. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a technique used to monitor the electrical activities of the heart and hence helps in finding the cause of heart failure. Currently used monitoring systems tend to be bulky, time limited (due to power constraints) and require visits to medical professionals to retrieve the gathered data. Moreover, very few systems exist with the ability to record, monitor and relay electrocardiograph data in real time to medical professionals or to a health management system. This research aims to develop an architecture and the necessary software for a low-power short-range communication system for electrocardiography management that addresses different low-power communications options including Bluetooth low-power and WiFi (IEEE 802.11). In addition, this thesis compares the performance analysis and power consumption of these communication technologies together with the connectivity of the system with smart phones and with web-based health management system.