Map (craciun Andreea Ioana) [606083]

1 Medical Applications, WS 201 6
Medical Applications Project Plan – MAP

Project name: Monitoring platform for biomedical sensors

Student: [anonimizat]: Craciun Andreea Ioana
Student: [anonimizat]: 1510310005

2 1. Introduction

During the last few decades , biosignal monitoring and recording became essential
in many areas of modern medical services. This reflects the recognition of the importance
of physiological control systems .
The Body Area Network (BAN) and related biomonitoring solutions are being
researched since 2001, the defi nition being integrated in the communicating devi ces
(sensors , actuators, etc.) , as well as the transmission of th e data, security and proper
representation. [1]
Still, t he health related problems occupy a broad field, therefore universal solutions
cannot be found in only one equipment or one biomonitoring platform. [3], [2] The goal
of the project is to reveal the importance of components intercommunication when
integrated into an ensemble , solve the security issues, gather essential data and sol ve the
biomedical problem of rheumatic heart disease .
Rheumatic heart disease is a complication of rheumatic fever in which the heart valves
are damaged. This begins with strep throat and can affect connective tissue throughout
the body, especially in the heart, joints, brain and skin. Although rheumatic feve r can
strike people of all ages, it is most common in children between 5 and 15 years old. [4]
In realizing a functional model, synchronization between all components is crucial.
Furthermore, environmental knowledge gathering is an important aspect for such a
model. For this purpose can be integ rated several specific sensors by c onstructi on of a
dynamic prototype , assembled from an Arduino/Raspberry microcomputer. The purpose
of this project is to try and implement the coding for communication between the
components and make the device functional , whereas finding a proper algorithm for the
detection of the rheumatic heart disease and maintaining a proper webserver in terms of
security an d information displayed to the patient and doctor .

2. Methods

Rheumatic heart disease is one of the biggest causes of heart failure among children and
young people and kills up to 460 000 people across the globe each year. The diagnosis
of rheumatic heart disease is established by the appearance or not of a strep infection via
a throat culture, a blood test, or both to check for the presence of strep antibodies.
However, it is likely that sign s of the strep infection may be gone by the time the child
is reaching the doctor. [5]
In addition, there are a couple of tests that may be used to check the heart and assess
damage, including:

 Chest X -ray to check the size of the heart and to see if there is excess fluid in
the heart or lungs
 Echocardiogram, used to create a moving image of the heart and to measure its
size and shape. [6]

Problems can be:

 Child being taken to a doctor means unfamiliar place
 X-rays are still considered invasive if there is a co ncern regarding the radiation
in its definition

3 A biomonitoring system should:

 Be cheaper th an going to hospital and taking analysis such as X-rays, blood
tests, etc. This can be still made in a special use case of alerting the doctor
(parameters out of range )
 Have a stable background algorit hm

The objectives of the project are therefore finding a proper solution for gathering and
including all the necessary data in a secure platform, as well as the algorithm for
detec tion of rheumatic heart disease and proper alarming of the medical staff.
The software requirements include the web socket to push the data from the sensor, the
sensor firmware to com municate with the sen sor as well as gathering the data. On the
other hand, the software and system requirements include the processing units: Arduino
and Raspberry, communicating sensors and the wir eless sensors.

The project will be divided into two parts :

 CISC via communication protocol and servers to maintain a secure web
interface for displaying the data
 FH via sensors, gathering data, algorithm for rheumatic heart disease and testing
of the device

Figure 1 – Presentation of the project and components

4 3. Workpackages & Milestones

Workpackages

The project will be spilled up i nto 2 parts: hardware and software, as well as server
including a secure web platform and and biomedical data gathering including algorith m
for rheumatic heart disease detection. Main workpa ckages will be related to research on
the biomedical topic, sensor selection for the monitoring device, server platform,
communication protocol , storage and backalgorithm of the data.

Tasks

 T1.1 research on state of the art for biomonitoring solutions
 T1.2 user description and functionality description
 T1.3 sensor selection and testing
 T1.4 research on the illness and functional parameters
 T1.5 research on algorithms in literature
 T1.6 develop a proper algorithm
 T1.7 wireless hardware selection
 T1.8 sensor firmware for communication
 T1.9 server implementation
 T1.10 user interface and data storage
 T1.11 data presentation
 T1.12 final testing
 T1.13 results and possible improvements
 T1.14 documentation and master thesis writing

Milestones

 MileStone 1.1: Sensor Selection
 MileStone 1 .2: Sensor Firmware
 MileStone 1 .3: Rheumatic heart disease algorithm
 MileStone 1 .4: Communication protocol
 MileStone 1 .5: Server and information storage
 MileStone 1 .6: User Interface
 MileStone 1 .7: Testing
 MileStone 1 .8: Final Prototype
 MileStone 1 .9: Master Thesis final documentation and writing

5 4. Timeplan
5. References

1. V.M.Jones, R.Huis, T. Tonis, R.B. Bul ts, B. van Beijnum, I. Widya,
M.Vollenbroek -Hutten, H. Hermens, "Biosignal and Context Monitoring:
Distributed Multimedia Applications of Body Area Networks in Healthcare",
Freeband AWARENESS project
2. Kiing -Ing Wong, Mel M.S. Ho, "Wearable biosignal moni toring nodes for real –
time electrocardiogram and motion measurement", IEEE Medical Devices and
Biosensors, 2008
3. Kathryn J. Hannah, Marion J. Ball, "Health Informatics Series", Springer 2006,
Pages 288 -301
4. David Davis, M.D., Soma Weiss, M.D., "Rheumatic heart disease", AHJ
American Heart Journal, 932, Volume 8, Pages 182 –189
5. WHO, Global status report of noncommunicable diseases 2011
6. L.J.Zühlke, "Rheumatic heart disease and the asap programme: fresh insights
into an old disease", CME, Nov/Dec 2011, Vol.29 No.11
Figure 2 – Timeplan for first decade (1st November – 30th February)
Figure 3 – Timeplan for second decade (1st March – 30th April)