Efficiently and cost-effectively evaluate technology solutions for Telehealthcare using modelling and simulation.

1. Dr Sanjeev Naguleswaran Professor Karen Grimmer
Modelling & Simulation for Remote Monitoring:
keeping ageing people in their home
SiMTECT/SiMHealth 2013

2. Telehealth and Telecare
Telehealth - Consistent and
accurate remote monitoring and
management of a patient’s health
condition
• Vital signs monitoring
• Health settings and
advisory information
Telecare - The remote
monitoring of real time
emergencies and lifestyle
changes over time
• Alarms, sensors and
other equipment to
help people live
independently for
longer
• Autonomously call for
help in emergencies

3. The Benefits of Telehealthcare
• Independence & dignity
• Quality of Life
• Less disruption through travel etc
• Less hospital attendance
• Less impact on family members
Individuals
• Prioritise support for patients
• Better situational awareness of patient’s
condition
• Early intervention to prevent deconditioning &
maintain good health
Health
professionals
• Reduce use of hospitals & emergency leading to
cost reductions
• Better use of clinical teams & other resources
• People better mange their own conditions
• Improve outreach services
Policy and
Government

4. Generation 1:
Push Button
Alarms
Generation 2:
Sensors and
Networks
Ambient Assisted
Living/Ubiquitous
Computing
Technology Supported Telehealthcare
Telehealth
Technology
Cloud Processing
Monitoring
Falls
Medication
Security
Eating Wellness
depression
Chronic disease
Video consult
Telecare

5. Drive design &
development of appropriate
technology
Modelling to Evaluate Technology
 Requirement to evaluate, configure and deploy technology for:
 Remote monitoring in the home - aged care
 Telehealthcare services - remote communities.
Candidate solutions reducing
dependence on costly, time
consuming & intrusive
hardware trials
Configure networks with
the required reliability &
robustness
Identify & dimension
appropriate Commercial Off
the Shelf (COTS) product
MODELLING
&
SIMULATION

6. Modelling and Simulation Solution
Define health care requirements - including establishing KPIs that
need to be met (Photo –BT)
Sensor characterization – model the specifications of COTS sensors to
evaluate the KPIs
Sensor networks – model networks formed by the sensors, such as
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), Body Area Networks (BAN) and Body
Sensor Networks (BSN) – (Photo Libellium)
Adhoc networking – model and optimise configurations and parameters
for networking of various sensors with limited infrastructure (Photo- Technhunt)
Reliability of life-critical system – holistic model of system and reach-
back communication links such as the National Broadband Network
(NBN), Cellular (3G/4G) or Satellite Communications and cloud based
analytics

7. Simulation Model
Sensor
Characterization
Network
Configuration
Health care
Requirements
Location
characterization
Remote monitoring
WSN, BAN, BSN
Telehealthcare
Services

8. Location Model and Simulation
 A 10 x 10 x 5 m premises (approximating a house) with the following sensors was
initially modelled:
 3 Zigbee sensors (IEEE 802.15)
 4 WiFi sensors capable of real-time video (IEE 802.11)
 A bluetooth enabled sensor [Such as a belt]
 An Ollomobile sensor phone carried on the person
capable of bluetooth and 3G
(www.ollomobile.net)
“Lifestyle Analytics”
 An indoor propagation model
 Routing and relaying
 Mobility

9. In Premises Communications
• Red = unsupported traffic
• Green = supported traffic
• Blue = supported with 1 hop
• Light Blue = supported with
2 hops

10. Communications with Relay Node
• Red = unsupported traffic
• Green = supported traffic
• Blue = supported with 1 hop
• Light Blue = supported with
2 hops

11. Simulation Cycle
Configuration
Model
Simulate
/Optimise
Analysis
Modify/
Accept
Relay
Enables
Required
Information
Exchange
Software
Model
Optimal
Placement
Evaluate
Results
Confirm
(non)

12. Summary
 Demonstrated Modelling and Simulation capability to evaluate
Telehealthcare solutions for the home
 Efficient technology identification
 Removes need to evaluate a number of solutions in the field
 We are:
 Developing more accurate premises and radio propagation models
 Creating modules for easily incorporating various product
characteristics
 Exploring heterogeneous networks with multi-level (pico, femto,.. )
cells and hand-off
 Exploring cognitive and cooperative communication
 Continuously refining health care requirements, constraints and
reliability KPI’s