Emerging Technologies for Healthcare. Группа авторов

autonomous operation for 24 hours.

      Body sensor networks is the one of the significant technologies used to monitor the patients by means of tiny wireless sensor nodes in the body. Security of such IoT devices poses a major issue in privacy of the patients. A secure system for healthcare called BSN-care is addressed in [8].

      Securing the privacy of patients is of utmost importance for IoT-based healthcare systems. Various research is going on this area. In [9], a big data storage system to secure the privacy of the patients is addressed. The medical data generated is encrypted before it is transferred to the data storage. This system is designed as a self-adaptive one where it can operate on emergency and normal conditions.

      Various systems are developed to take care of the personal needs while traveling which can aid in travel and tourism. An intelligent travel recommender system called ProTrip is developed in [10]. This system helps travelers who are on strict diet and having long-term diseases in getting proper nutritional value foods according to the climatic conditions. This system supports the IoT healthcare system for food recommendation.

      The issues in the security and privacy of IoT-based healthcare system are a major concern. Most of the system is based on cloud computing for IoT solutions which has certain limitations based on economic aspects, storage of data, geographical architecture, etc. To overcome this limitation, a Fog computing approach is addressed in [11] and authors explores the integration of traditional cloud-based structure and Cloud Fog services in interoperable healthcare solutions.

      For IoT-based healthcare system efficient authorization and authentication is required for securing the data. Such a system is addressed in [12]. It was found that the proposed model is more secure than the centralized delegation-based architecture as it uses a secure key management between the smart gateway and sensor nodes.

      Recent security attacks for the private data and integrity of data is a matter of concern for the IoT healthcare systems. Conventional methods of security solutions are for the protection of data during patient communication but it does not offer the security protection during the data conversion into the cipher. A secure data collection scheme for IoT healthcare system called SecureData scheme is proposed in [13], and the experimental results showed that this scheme is efficient in protecting security risks.

Life style diseases like diabetes are common nowadays. It is very important for such patients to follow a strict diet and most of the time it is difficult for the healthcare professionals to get the precise physiological parameter of the patients. Without the knowledge of the current condition of the patients, it is difficult for the ontologies to recommend a proper diet for such patients. A fuzzy-based ontology recommendation system is proposed in [14] which can determine patient’s conditions and risk factors by means of wearable sensors and accordingly can suggest the diet. The experimental results proved that the system is efficient for diabetes patients.

      The data generated through IoT devices are prone to security threats. Maintaining the privacy of the patient data is of utmost importance. Traditional encryption schemes cannot be applied on healthcare data due to the limitations in the properties of digital data. A chaos-based encryption cryptosystem to preserve the privacy of patients is proposed in [15]. Random images are generated by the cryptosystem which ensures highest security level for the patient data. The performance of this model was found to be better than other encryption schemes.

      The trends of IoT in healthcare sectors and the future scope for research is discussed in [16]. A sensor-based communication architecture and authentication scheme for IoT-based healthcare systems is addressed in [17]. Various research articles on big data analytics, and IoT in healthcare is addressed in [18].

      With the enormous research happening in the field of IoT applications in healthcare sectors, new dimensions to the healthcare treatments and hospital services can be expected in the coming years.

1.2 Influence of IoT in Healthcare Systems

Due to the awareness about the importance of healthy life, people have become more health conscious nowadays. Humans are finding new ways to improve and track their health. Due to the implementation of emerging technologies like IoTs and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the healthcare systems have evolved as an entirely new system replacing the old system. Various stages of IoT system is shown in Figure 1.1.

      Various developments have occurred in the healthcare systems in the recent past. Some of the advancements are discussed in this section.

      1.2.1 Health Monitoring

Health monitoring on real-time basis became possible due to the invention of wearable smart gadgets. These devices continuously monitor various parameters like blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen level, and calories burnt. Fitness bands helps individuals to maintain their body healthy and fit by regularly alerting them about the steps taken per day and how much calories needs to be burnt to stay healthy.

Figure 1.1 Stages of IoT.

      These devices can be interconnected by IoT devices so that the healthcare workers and immediate family members can monitor the parameters and they will be alerted for any emergency situation. Such devices are very helpful for elderly persons who are living alone as they get immediate medical attention if there are variations in their body parameters.

      1.2.2 Smart Hospitals

      Smart hospitals mean all the equipment in the hospitals are connected through IoTs in addition to real-time monitoring system for the patients. Managing the assets in the hospitals can be made in a smarter way by means of IoTs. The equipment like oxygen cylinders, wheelchairs, and nebulizers can be tracked on real-time basis and made available when in need.

      Now, in the current Covid-19 scenario, we have observed how the hospitals were managing the resources in a smarter way. The number of occupied beds and available bed status is updated on real-time basis, and the data is made available in various digital platforms.

      Cleanliness and hygiene also can be maintained in an efficient manner. Environmental conditions like humidity and temperature can be monitored continuously and the spread of diseases can be prevented efficiently.

      1.2.3 Tracking Patients

Due to the advancement of technology, hospitals have become more patient friendly. The duration of hospital stay can be reduced due to the online real-time monitoring of the patient data through IoT devices. It is easier for doctors to track the patient data at the comfort of sitting at a remote location. As the IoT devices are attached to the patients, continuous monitoring of the vital parameters is possible, and the doctors will be alerted for any variations in the parameters.

      These smart devices not only track the patient’s health parameters but also alert the patients for their consultation schedules. It also keeps the records of previous medications or medical history which aids the doctors in right diagnosis and treatments.

      The availability of patient’s data on IoT devices helps the hospitals to track the patients and provide quick medical attention in an efficient manner.

      1.2.4 Transparent Insurance Claims

      Healthcare insurance policy holders are increasing on a yearly basis. Due to the large number of policy holders who aims to get maximum profits by claiming the insurance, false claims are also increasing. Due to the presence of IoT devices which tracks the patient data, insurance companies can easily detect any fraud in the claims.

      These devices not only help the patients to manage their insurance policies but also help the insurance companies to track the health of patients,