CROSS-PLATFORM SOFTWARE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT FOR REMOTE HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM

Project Title

CROSS-PLATFORM SOFTWARE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT FOR REMOTE HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM

Project Area of Specialization Artificial IntelligenceProject Summary

Recent advancements in science and technology, in every field, made it possible to develop systems which are/can monitor and store our actions either in the form of electronic or manual data. Historical data has been used to predict actions by analyzing relevant information from it. Analysis and reliable identification of our actions are possible using Machine Learning algorithms ranging from simple classification to clustering problems.

Till date a large number of papers have been published focusing different aspects related to healthcare; e.g., data collection and it's quality, reliable and accurate monitoring application, software architecture/framework, scalable database design etc. In (Claudia et al, 2009), authors presented different approaches of predicting the quality of dataset in relation to e-Health monitoring applications. Furthermore, authors explore the principle and issues of data types and their quality while providing remote assistance to patients. In the information era, a different type of amounts of data has become available on hand to decision makers. Due to the rapid growth of such data, solutions need to be studied and provided in order to handle and extract value and knowledge from these datasets which need dynamic and scalable SQL database design (Nada et al., 2014). The author, (Nick, 2009), emphasized the use of MVC based architecture in developing a web-based application in contrast to non-MVC based applications. Furthermore, the paper discussed the effectiveness of MVC architecture in the development of remote monitoring applications. The author, (Amna et al. 2015), proposed real-time wireless healthcare monitoring system. Three sensors (blood pressure, temperature, blood glucose level) were integrated with micro-controller with the ability to a desktop computer using WiFi communication protocol.

Pakistan with a large population living in rural areas and with limited access to modern facilities; such as education, transport, telecommunication, justice, security and especially in healthcare. There is a need to develop systems which can monitor/analyze and predict symptoms/disease and maintain a subject’s history without having physical access to hospitals. The presented work is proposed to develop a cross-platform software application for a remote healthcare monitoring system to facilitate people living in backward areas or having no direct access to hospitals.

Project Objectives

To facilitate the end-user by providing remote access to healthcare monitoring system using cross-platform (desktop/Laptop, mobile) software application. The proposed objectives of the project are:

• Reliable dataset collection of wearable sensors; related to healthcare, from a hospital
• Analysis of dataset using Bayesian learning rule inference engine
• Design of dynamic and scalable SQL database
• Design of software architecture (MVC based) along with various software components
• Implementation of proposed cross-platform software solution and Integration with the embedded hardware controller
• End-to-end testing of the proposed software application with the hardware

Project Implementation Method

The proposed project implementation involves a scalable, structured and phased approach consisting of pre-defined inputs, activities and outputs which deliver a solution that will meet project objectives. The methodology is divided into phases and each phase its own identity and significance, the respective phases:

Initiate Phase

In this phase, the project group members plan out the project activities, resources and timelines. The subsequent phases of the project are built on the foundation created during this phase. The list of activities carried out during this phase are:

• Meetings with supervisor and Problem understanding/review
• Project scope, goals and objectives
• Literature review
• Selection of wearable sensors for dataset collection
• Project target milestones (key deliverables)
• Hardware/Software resource selection and (partial) purchase
• Project plan outline

Design and Development Phase

In the Design phase, the objectives and needs in detail were explored and started architecting the solution that will best meet the project parameters. The key activities of this phase are:

• Dataset collection and analysis of the dataset
• Design and modelling of Bayesian inference engine
• Design of dynamic and scalable SQL database model
• Design of software framework based on MVC architecture
• Development of software interfaces/components of the proposed solution
• Stand-alone/Independent testing of designed software components

Implementation and Integration Phase (may include design modification)

In this phase, the configuration and solution building is performed based on the project design. This phase consists of the following activities:

• Implementation of pilot software solution
• Implementation of test application (for sample data generation) on the hardware embedded boards
• Integration of hardware and software using custom-designed API

Testing Phase

The final phase is Testing, which includes activities such as:

• Test script creation of individual hardware/software unit testing
• End-to-end testing of sensors data flow, verification and validation of reliable working of application interfaces
• Modification/upgradation of hardware/software components/libraries
• Project solution readiness testing

Benefits of the Project

Different techniques and methods are used to improve the provision of healthcare services. The software solution presented a real-time interactive e-healthcare system to help users/patients monitor healthcare data; 5 wearable sensors; BP, Temperature, Hear rate, Oximeter, ECG and 3 ambient sensors: Light, Temperature, Humidity. All sensors data (dynamic in nature) has been handled intelligently and stored in a scalable database. Furthermore, Bayesian inference model classifies the health status of the users/patients as healthy or non-healthy. Such preliminary health status helps users/patients to assess health while staying at home. Moreover, the user will be able to generate health reports (all sensors data with date/time) on a daily/monthly/yearly basis. In case of any anomaly within data, the user/patient can communicate with a doctor. Hence, the prime benefit of the proposed (cross-platform) solution is to have a real-time assessment of health-related data and ability to connect users with the doctors to have real-time consultation or guidance, prior to visiting a hospital in person.

Moreover, the designed solution is to facilitate users/patients in isolated/remote communities by enabling them to collect physiological health-related sensors data at their homes, and the developed system will transport collected data intelligently to doctors/specialists far away without having to travel to visit them.  Furthermore, the project solution will one step closer towards enhancing the quality of life and well-being for the remote living people.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The technical details of the proposed project proto-type consist of the following:

A PHP framework is used to build a cross-platform software application, based on MVC architecture for remote healthcare monitoring. One embedded board is used; Basys MX3 as the master node to deliver wearable sensors data to the server. The server computer is hosting the software application connected with the database. The proposed application intelligently detect new data packets from new users/patients, connected with the system, to register and notify user-credentials. All sensors data (compact in single data packet) is transmitted to the server through serial/Bluetooth/Wifi.

Different features of the proposed software solution are:

Admin Interface – Add admins, Add Doctors, Edit/Delete users, Components to add new features, Themes to change the entire theme of the application

Reports Interface – To view/generate/print reports on Daily/Monthly/Weekly/Yearly/Custom basis, each report has a graph with max, average value and health status values

User Dashboard Interface – Profile view, Edit personal information, profile picture, Real-time data monitoring for each sensor, Health Status, Current day, date, time

Message Interface – Patient to selected doctor connectivity using textual content, Inter-doctor text messages

Chat Interface – Quick messaging service, like Facebook, a list of online doctors appears on right side of page, patient clicks on online doctor and a chat appear in bottom of page.

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemType of Industry Health Technologies Artificial Intelligence(AI), OthersSustainable Development Goals Good Health and Well-Being for PeopleRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	66156
Pmod USBUART: USB to UART Interface	Equipment	1	2500	2500
Pmod ESP32: Wireless Communication Module	Equipment	1	4556	4556
Pmod WiFi: WiFi Interface 802.11g	Equipment	1	4100	4100
Pmod RJ45: RJ45 connector (Pair)	Equipment	1	1800	1800
Pmod NIC100: Network Interface Controller	Equipment	1	3500	3500
Pmod BLE: Bluetooth Low Energy Interface	Equipment	1	4200	4200
Basys MX3	Equipment	1	14000	14000
Arduino Mega 2560	Equipment	1	1500	1500
Web application Hosting Server	Equipment	1	20000	20000
Stationary & Printing	Miscellaneous	1	4000	4000
Overheads	Miscellaneous	1	6000	6000