MEDICINSKI GLASNIK

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Medicinski Glasnik, Volumen 9, Number 1, February 2012
(from different patients) and forwards them to the
communication network area.
Communication network area interconnects the
local sensory area with the institutional network
in a medical institution (e.g. hospital). Different
types of networks can be used for this purpose,
e.g. the Internet, cellular network (2G/3G), Wi-
MAX. All obtained data are analysed, aggregated
and stored into the database on the healthcare
server. Every patient has his/her own record, properly
secured and with restricted access. Medical
personnel (e.g. physicians, nurses) have access to
the patient records through the local secured institutional
network. They may have different levels
of access rights, according to the current institutional
policies. The described architecture of the
telemedicine system is illustrated in Figure 3.
A very important issue in telemedicine systems is
to provide the security and privacy of patient-related
data. Providing data security usually implies
that the data is securely stored and transferred
through the network. The data privacy connotes
that the data can only be accessed by authorized
personnel. Securely stored data means that their
confidentiality and integrity are assured. The
stored data should also be retrievable in case of
failure of sensor node or handheld device.
Data access security implies the implementation
of fine-grained data access policy that prevents
the unauthorized access to sensitive patient-related
data. The authentication of data sender should
also be ensured in order to prevent the injection
of false data from the outside. Constant availability
of patient data is also an imperative.
Data security and privacy are usually ensured by
implementation of different encryption schemes,
usually based on predistributed shared keys. The
Figure 3. General architecture of the telemedicine system (Grgić K., 2011)
implementation of security mechanisms represents
a big challenge due to strong resource constraints
of sensor nodes. Therefore, the security
mechanisms need to be as lightweight as possible
for a specific application.
It is also important to standardize the interfaces
between different components of the telemedicine
system. Such approach enables an easier
expansion of the system, as well as an easier
interconnection, integration and data exchange
between different systems. At the same time, the
interface for the patients has to be user friendly
and easy to use.
BASN EXAMPLES WORLDWIDE
Body area sensor networks represent the fundamental
basis for the mobile healthcare systems
(often denoted as the mHealth systems). Such systems
are currently the subject of intensive research
efforts worldwide (35, 36, 37). These efforts
have resulted in certain mHealth systems which
are already in practical use, but are also under
further development (38, 39, 40). There are also
several mHealth systems that are in a development
phase under some active research project
(41). The individual body area sensor networks
are usually interconnected with other modern
communication networks (the Internet, cellular
networks) forming a complex global system (42).
The interconnection of BASN networks with the
Internet or cellular network enables remote patient
monitoring through the telemedicine system
(43, 44). This article gives a short survey of some
existing mHealth and telemedicine systems, which
may be useful for the medical practitioners
and researchers, but also for the engineers interested
in the area of sensor networking. Mobile