DECLARATION iii

APPROVAL FOR SUBMISSION iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENT vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS xiiix

LIST OF TABLES xxivii

LIST OF FIGURES iv

INTRODUCTION 1

2.1 Body Area Networks 4

2.1.1 BAN sensor nodes design 4

2.1.2 BAN block diagram 7

2.1.3 BAN data exchange 8

2.1.4 BAN communication 9

2.1.5 BAN signal traffic 11

2.1.6 BAN power supply 11

2.1.7 BAN signal measurement principle 12

2.2 Prospective BAN contribution to patients and medical people 15

2.3 BAN International Applications 16

2.3.1 Cardiovascular disease detection applications 17

2.3.2 Cancer detection applications 18

2.3.3 Asthma detection applications 18

2.3.4 Artificial retina applications 18

2.3.5 Sleep disorder detection applications 18

2.3.6 Intelligent control of medication applications 19

2.3.7 Predictive diagnostic applications 21

2.3.8 Biomedical feedback control systems applications 21

2.3.9 Battlefield applications 22

2.4 Challenges 23

2.4.1 Hardware Level Challenges 23

2.4.1.1 Unobtrusiveness 23

2.4.1.2 Sensitivity 23

2.4.1.3 Energy 23

2.4.1.4 Data acquisition efficiency 24

2.4.1.5 Reliability 24

2.4.2 Layer Independent Challenges 24

2.4.2.1 Security / Privacy 24

2.4.2.2 User-friendliness 25

2.4.2.3 Cost 25

3.1 Introduction 25

3.2 Source of Data 26

3.2.1 Primary Data 26

3.2.2 Secondary Data 26

3.3 Selection of Research Strategy 27

3.3.1 Literature Review 27

3.3.2 Questionnaire Survey 27

3.4 Data Analysis 28

3.5 Flow chart of research progress 29

4.1 Respondent's demographics 32

4.1.1 Respondent's working experience years 32

4.1.2 Respondent's occupation / positions 33

4.1.3 Nature of respondent's sectors 34

4.2 Findings from Questionnaire Surveys (Part 1 : In-patients) 36

4.2.1 Response of respondents towards BAN implementation within hospital 36

4.2.2 Best implementation site for BAN within hospital 40

4.2.3 Main problems about BAN System 43

4.2.4 Target diseases for BAN system 45

4.2.5 BAN requirement for cardiovascular patients 45

4.2.6 BAN requirement for hypertension patients 49

4.2.7 Types of post surgical patients suitable for BAN 50

4.2.8 Post surgical complications (importance index) 52

4.2.9 BAN requirement for after - surgery patients 53

4.2.10 Other findings

4.2.10.1 Preferable types of battery 55

4.2.11 BAN design 58

4.3 Findings from Questionnaire Surveys (Part 2 : Out-patients) 62

4.3.1 BAN Target for Home Monitoring Purposes 62

4.3.2 BAN requirement for Cardiovascular Patients 64

4.3.3 BAN requirement for Hypertension Patients 66

4.3.4 Response of respondents towards idea of wireless cardiac event monitor 67

4.3.5 Main concern about BAN system 68

4.3.6 Other findings 70

4.3.6.1 Suitability of BAN for Obstrusive Sleep Apnea patients 70

4.3.6.2 Preferable types of battery 71

4.3.7 BAN design 73

4.4 Findings from Questionnaire (Part 3 : health-consicous) 74

4.4.1 Application of BAN to health conscious people 75

4.4.2 BAN target for health conscious people 76

4.4.3 BAN measu3ent for health conscious people 78

4.4.4 Preferable BAN design types 79

4.4.5 Main concern about BAN system 82

4.4.6 BAN design 84

5.1 General conclusion from project 85

5.1.1 In-patients 87

5.1.2 Out-patients 88

5.1.3 Health conscious people 89

5.2 Recommendation 90

1 Summary of the 4 sensor node generation 6

2 Bandwidth required for real-time signal transmission 10

3 In-body and on-body sensor network applications 16

4 List of hospitals & companies included in surveys 31

5 Comparison between wired telemetry system and wireless BAN system 39

6 Comparison of BAN implementation architecture design between in-patients, out-patients and health conscious people basis 84

1 Years of working experience among respondents 32

2 Respondent's occupations 33

3 Types of respondent's sectors 34

4 Response of respondents towards implentation of

BAN within hospital 36

5 The best implentation for BAN within hospital 40

6 Main concern about BAN system (from respondents) 43

7 Target diseases for BAN system 45

8 BAN requirement for cardiovascular patients 47

9 BAN requirement for hypertension patients 49

10 Types of post surgery patients for BAN 50

11 Post surgical complications 52

12 BAN requirement for post surgical patients 53

13 Preferable types of battery maintenance 56

14 BAN design (for in-patients) 60

15 BAN target for home monitoring purpose 62

16 BAN requirement for cardiovascular patients 64

17 BAN measurement for hypertension patients 66

18 Response of respondents towards idea of wireless cardiac event monitor 67

19 Main concern about BAN system (from respondents) 68

20 Preferable types of battery maintenance 71

21 BAN design (for out-patients) 74

22 Application of BAN to health conscious people 74

23 BAN target diseases for health conscious people 76

24 BAN measurement for health conscious people 78

25 Preferable BAN design for health conscious people 79

26 Main concern about BAN system (from respondents) 82

27 BAN design (for health conscious people) 82

Body Area Network (BAN) is one promising application in the integration of sensing and consumer electronics technologies which would allow people to be constantly monitored (Schmidt, A., Laerhoven, K.V., 2001). It enables a ubiquitous remote medical device which can provide patients with assistance everywhere, anywhere and at any time.

In the near future, healthcare will face major challenges as medical costs are rapidly increasing worldwide due to widespread chronic diseases and aging

population. In such a case, the ageing population is due to the combined effect of falling birth rates and increasing life expectancy. Recent statistics showed that the

percentage of ageing people in Malaysia was increasing. In 2000, the number of elderly people was 1.45 million or 6.2% of the total population but in 2009, the

number increased to 2.03 million or 7.1% of the total population. Twenty five years down the line, Malaysia is likely to reach an ageing nation status by 2035 with the number of people above the age of 60 reaching 15% of the population. In such a case, the United Nations categorizes any country with 10% of its population above the age of 60 as an ageing nation. (The Star, 2010) On the other hand, chronic diseases are persistent or recurring conditions that require care for more than a year and that limit the patient‟s activities. Although there is no definite cure for a chronic disease, it can be managed to reduce its effects on the patient at a minimal level.

Also, there is a situation where hospital beds not being able to meet the number of patients to be admitted. Furthermore, chronic patients discharged from

hospitals, elderly and the disabled are desperately in need of intensive monitoring at home. The cost of sensing nurses or medical doctors to attend patients at home is very high. Therefore, the rationale of my research is to solve the problems stated above to at least, a minimal level. In such a case, the traditional cable sensors

however, often cause inconvenience to patients by restricting patient‟s mobility and disturbing them with the presence of cables. To overcome this problem, wireless medical sensors are developed and applied. (Guo, Kang, Cao & Zhang, 2008) 

Admist all the effects on biomonitoring, we see the potential of using low - power consumption, light weight and integrated physiological sensors for detection of

sentinel events among in - patients and out - patients as well. In maintaining the general health of people, it can be useful to remotely monitor their health status in

their daily lives as well too. (Togowa, 1998) Well, the aim in this research is to clarify the design requirement which is needed for BAN. The scope of the research is to identify out the use cases of BAN and clarify specific vital sign sensors to be mounted on patients. In such a case, the functional specifications and design requirements may differ to suit different medical procedures. Thus, all these matters have to be discussed face - to face with medical

doctors and biomedical engineering personnel from Malaysia‟s private and government hospitals.

In order to do so, the objective in this research is:

This BAN research is only mainly concentrating in hospitals around Kuala Lumpur and Penang. The participating respondent in this research were 30 people.

They are consisted of 10 medical doctors and 20 biomedical engineering personnel.

Based on the ascertained design requirement (which can be obtained from their professional knowledge), we shall thereafter develop a BAN - based, human friendly, connected health system.

The first chapter of this progress report is about the introduction of the BAN.

The second chapter is about the literature reviews which have been done based on the journals and articles related with BAN. In such a case, one way of attaining

information is through the current mass media and publications. These reviews are important in such a way that they provide the latest development especially from the biomedical field. Lastly, the third chapter is about the methodology to define the methods to conduct this research. The methods included here such as literature

review, questionnaire survey and also data analysis.