A Survey about Applications of Internet of Things in Health Care
Systems
Swarnalaxmi S, Computer Technology, Madras Institute of Technology
Abstract— Internet Of Things is the latest trending topic
that has variety of application domains. It integrates hardware,
computing devices, physical objects, softwares, and animals or
people over a network enabling them to intercat, communicate,
collect and exchange data. There is an increased number
of users, services and appications for IOT across various
domains.This paper discuses about various applications of IOT
in health care systems. In addition, this paper also analyses the
privacy preservation schemes used in IoT to handle sensitive
data.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept reflecting a
connected set of anyone, anything, anytime, anyplace, any
service, and any network. The IoT is a megatrend in next-
generation technologies that can impact the whole business
spectrum and can be thought of as the intercon- nection
of uniquely identifiable smart objects and devices within
todays internet infrastructure with extended benefits. Benefits
typically include the advanced connectivity of these devices,
systems, and services that goes beyond machine- to-machine
(M2M) scenarios.A typical IoT system consists of sensors,
communication inter- faces, advanced algorithms, and cloud
interface. Sensors are used to collect data from different
devices. RFID technology and WSN technologies provide
the means of communications and network infrastructure.
Advanced algorithms are used to process data and analyze
anything meaningful through Application Program Inter-
faces (APIs) or apps. Thousands of clientserver requests
can be exchanged between mobile devices and services in
the cloud and Internet, thus allowing users to get access to
different types of services at the same time
II. I OT A RCHITECTURE
The building blocks of IoT are sensors, IoT framework
and gateway, cloud server and application to interact with
the users.
A. Sensors
Sensors are everywhere, sensors sense data from at-
mosphere or place. eg. temperature sensor senses tem-
perature from room and shares it through IoT gate-
way/framework.They will sniff a wide variety of information
ranging from Location, Weather/Environment conditions,
running machine, from human body, engine maintenance
data to health essentials of a vehicle.
B. IoT Gateways and frameworks
As the name rightly explains, it is a gateway to internet for
all the things/devices that we want to interact with. Gateways
act as a carrier between the internal network of sensor nodes
with the external Internet or World Wide Web. They do this
by collecting the data from sensor nodes and transmitting it
to the internet infrastructure.
C. Cloud Sever
The data transmitted through gateway is stored and pro-
cessed securely within the cloud server i.e. in data center
using data analytics.This processed data is then used to
perform intelligent actions that make all our devices Smart
Devices
D. User Interface
The intuitive mobile apps will help end users to control
and monitor their devices (ranging from room thermostat
to vehicle engines) from remote locations.These apps push
the important information on your smart phones, tablet
etcInformation is shown in the form of graphs, bars and in pi-
diagram user friendly interface,also from mobile application
we can send command to sensors to change default values.
III. B ENEFITS OF IOT IN H EATH C ARE
IOT has an extensive applicability in numerous areas,
including healthcare. The full application of this paradigm in
healthcare area is a mutual hope because it allows medical
centers to function more competently and patients to obtain
better treatment. With the use of this technology-based
healthcare method, there are unparalleled benefits which
could improve the quality and efficiency of treatments and
accordingly improve the health of the patients.
A. Simulataneous Reporting and Monitoring
Real-time monitoring via connected devices can save lives
in event of a medical emergency like heart failure, diabetes,
asthma attacks, etc. With real-time monitoring of the condi-
tion in place by means of a smart medical device connected
to a smartphone app, connected devices can collect medical
and other required health data and use the data connection
of the smartphone to transfer collected information to a
physician. The IoT device collects and transfers health data:
blood pressure, oxygen and blood sugar levels, weight, and
ECGs. These data are stored in the cloud and can be shared
with an authorized person, who could be a physician, your
insurance company, a participating health firm or an external
consultant, to allow them to look at the collected data
regardless of their place, time, or device.