Abstract
We developed a wireless sensor network system for supporting context-awareness of nursing activities in hospitals. Our system is aimed at automated recording of nursing work, providing context-aware services to nurses and visualising analytical results from nursing histories. The system consists of heterogeneous devices utilising three kinds of wireless networks: a ZigBeeTM (ZigBee is a registered trademark of the ZigBee Alliance)-based location sensor network, a BluetoothTM (Bluetooth is a trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc., USA)-based body-area sensor network for capturing nurse activities and a Wi-FiTM (Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance)-based network for communication between PDAs worn by nurses and a server PC. We illustrate the layered structure of the entire system as well as algorithms for estimating nurse locations and activities during their operations in a hospital. These estimated results are managed by a real-time database system with which nurse contexts can be visualised in real time on a server PC and/or PDAs. We also show empirical results evaluating the performance of retrieving, analysing and visualising detailed nursing contexts.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 361-382 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2011 Nov |
Keywords
- Activity recognition
- Activity- and location-awareness
- Context visualisation
- Healthcare
- Nursing activity
- Wireless sensor network
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Computer Science(all)
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering