Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life
Vol. 8(1); June (2021), pp. 37–40
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2991/jrnal.k.210521.009; ISSN 2405-9021; eISSN 2352-6386
https://www.atlantis-press.com/journals/jrnal

Research Article

Design and Implementation of in-Home Real-Time
Wireless Fever Monitoring in Pediatrics during the
COVID-19 PandemicAli S. Al-Mejrad*
Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences University of Hail, Hail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

ARTICLE INFOABSTRACTArticle History

Fever is one of the most common concern to be taken care by parents which sometimes force them to bring their children to thehospital emergency for continuous following up especially at night when sleeping. Fever is defined when the rectal temperaturereaches over 38.0°C (100.4°F). Temperatures measured from other sites of body are usually less. There is no defined threshold forfever due to variation of body temperatures between different individuals as much as 1°F. Fever itself is not life threatening unlessthe rectal temperature is persistent over than 41.6°C (107°F). Fever may be due to a serious illness such as COVID-19 and usuallyis caused by common infections, which are not serious. However, a fever can be caused by other reasons other than infections.
Since continuous temperature monitoring is inapplicable at the rectal site, the paper aims at developing a real-time system using
wireless sensor network for wireless continuous fever monitoring on the head skin or wrist, which are the most applicable areawith suitable compensation for the read temperature correction. The system can record the temperature on the patient’s side who
is required to be isolated and transmit the fever status and critical situations to an alarming system on the side of taking-carepeople. This system will help in in-home care for pediatrics suffering from fever and especially during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Received 03 November 2020
Accepted 09 April 2021
Keywords
Wireless temperature monitoring
systemwireless sensor network
data logging
alarming system© 2021 The Author. Published by Atlantis Press B.V.
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

1. INTRODUCTION
Fever is one of the most important symptoms of many diseases andespecially nowadays during the COVID-19 Pandemic [1]. Fever
may be due to a serious illness and usually is caused by common
infections, which are not serious. The body temperature increasing
is controlled by the part of the brain called the hypothalamus tofight the infection that may reach the fever level. Fever is considered
as one of the most common concern to be taken care by parents
which sometimes force them to bring their children to the hospitalemergency for continuous following up especially at night whensleeping. Fever is defined when the rectal temperature reaches over
38.0°C (100.4°F). Temperatures measured at other sites of body areusually less. There is no defined threshold for fever due to variationof body temperatures among different individuals as much as 1°F.
Fever itself is not life threatening unless the rectal temperature is
persistent over than 41.6°C (107°F) [2].
In the past, a thermometer constructed of glass and filled withmercury was used for body temperature monitoring. However,the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests not using mercury thermometers and recommended thermometers which are
the electronic ones with the digital temperature display. Anothertype of thermometers is the plastic strip placed on the forehead,
which changes color to indicate the temperature, which is the least

Email: a.almejrad@uoh.edu.sa*

accurate. Hence, there are many kinds of temperature measurement
methods, most of which are inconvenient to infants and children
monitoring, because they cannot realize the real-time continuous
temperature reading [3].
Therefore, a method for real-time continuous temperature monitoring should be developed for using at home and be safe and convenient [4]. This method will enable a continuous reading of thetemperature data by utilizing the wireless technology that the multiple transmitter nodes can enable the person on charge to monitor the temperatures of many patients (infants and children). This
paper aims at designation and implementation of a system applying the embedded technology and wireless sensor network technology [5] for wireless real-time continuous fever monitoring on
the head skin or wrist which are the most applicable areas taken inconsideration with suitable compensation for the temperature. The
Wireless Temperature Monitoring System (WTMS) provides 24/7
real-time continuous temperature monitoring on critical patients(infants and children). The continuous monitoring provides themeans to detect abnormalities (fever) at an early stage. The wirelesstechnology is needed especially in COVID-19 patients who haveto be isolated. Using the wireless will eliminates cabling and this inturn makes the patient comfortable especially when sleeping andduring every day practice. WTMS allows for easy field data collection. The temperature data are transmitted from the sensors at thetransmitter nodes to a nearby receiver node via wireless connection. The receiver node can be connected to a computer via USB.
In addition, the receiver node can work standalone without the PC.

A.S. Al-Mejrad / Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life 8(1) 37–40

38

A universal receiver node can be utilized as a data logger, which cancollect data from any transmitter node. This universal receiver andthe attached PC can work to trigger visual and/or audible alarmfor preset temperature values for fever detection. Moreover, it cansend Short Message Service (SMS) to the smart phone belonging to
the person in charge such as parents. In addition, the data can beanalyzed later for diagnosis and reported by a dedicated software
package.

2. SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
2.1. Hardware and System Block Diagram
2.1.1. Transmitter node
The WTMS designed as shown in Figure 1 consists of three mainparts: transmitter node, receiver node, and optional data accessmodule.
The system is comprised of Wireless transmitter node, which
consists of temperature sensor; lead off detector, microcontroller,
power subsystem (battery), and the transmitting antenna as shownin Figure 2. This module is based on wireless Wi-Fi technology.
This module is designed to operate in moisture environment andis protected by adding moisture resist material, which will protect and isolate the patient from being connected to the circuit via
moisture. The transmitter node has a lead off detector to trigger an
alarm on the receiver node when there is no or bad contact on thepatient skin. The transmitter is attached to the patient skin all thetime by the mean of head bandage or wrist strap, which will givethe patient a convenient way of every day practice.

2.1.2. Receiver node
It consists of receiving antenna, microcontroller, power subsystem (battery and battery management; recharge circuit operatefrom USB port). The outputs are liquid crystal display (LCD) asa reading out device for the temperature and alarm values, buzzer
for audible alarm, mass storage [I2C EEPROM, and Secure Digital(SD)] card that are controlled by the microcontroller as shown inFigure 3. The controller has a USB interfacing to the PC to collectthe data for further analysis. In addition, the receiver node battery
could be charged from the PC USB port. This module is based on
wireless Wi-Fi technology, which can be directly connected to thePC via USB for data collection and further analysis. Any receiver
node can be programmed to collect data from many transmitters,
as the case when there are many children or infants to be monitored
for temperature rise. The receiver contains SD card to store the data
for further analysis by physicians. The collected data can be sent tophysician over the internet under user control when the receiver
node is connected to a PC.

2.1.3. Data access module
It consists of data logger module which can be connected to a server
for data distribution over the web, sending alarm notification SMS
to smart phone. SD card reader can be connected to the server forreading SD card from any receiver. The data logger can connect toany transmitter node(s) for data collection and analysis. The datalogger is mainly powered from the USB port.

2.2. Software and User Interface
A user interface as shown in Figure 4 is developed using Laboratory
Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) [6].
LabVIEW is used to control the wireless module and collect theFigure 1 | System block diagram.

Figure 2 | Transmitter node.

Figure 3 | Receiver node.

A.S. Al-Mejrad / Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life 8(1) 37–40

39

Table 1 | Body temperature test results
No.

Figure 4 | User interface of temperature data collection and fever
alarms events.

temperature data of patient events of high temperature thresholdof fever.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Analysis of Body Temperature
Measurements Comparison Test
Testing the sensor DS18B20 as body temperature sensor is donewith comparison to the measurement results with mercury thermometer. The selection of this type of thermometer is due to its
accuracy compared to other types of thermometers. Table 1 shows
the comparison results, the measurement difference and the average measurement error.
The test results showed the temperature has an average error
around 0.64% using the Mercury Thermometer compared to thetest results using developed system. Hence, it can be stated that thesensor readings are very good.

3.2. System Analysis and Validation
To analyze, validate the system performance and test its ability
to catch events of high temperature threshold, fever test is done.
Table 2 shows the test results of continuous acquisition of temperature data in real-time. The acquired temperature data shows thesystem ability of catching critical events of fever (as shown in REDcolor), and hence, activating alarming system to prevent deterioration of the patient condition.

3.3. Analysis of Data Transmission
Performance Test
The performance test of Nodemcu ESP8266 works to find out if
the sensor is accessible by other devices with a certain distance.
Testing is done by sending data on Nodemcu ESP8266 to display
the results on the website and then test access with a certain range.
Distance parameter of the maximal use range is about 50 m. From
the tests that have been done, it can be concluded that the website
is inaccessible in the range above 50 m. The test results of this communication between the master and the slave modules, the slave
module used can accept data successfully from master module
according to data delivered.

12
3
4
5
6
78
9101112131415

Time (min) Temp data (°C)
5.7
5.9
6.1
6.3
6.5
6.7
6.9
7.1
8.4
8.6
8.8
9
9.2
9.4
9.6

Temp high Events of alarms
limit (°C) (in RED)

35.8
35.8
35.835.8
35.2
35.2
34.6
34.6
38.9
39.6
39.6
39.6
38.9
38.3
37.7

38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38

FEVER
FEVER
FEVER
FEVER
FEVER
FEVER

Table 2 | Events of high temperature threshold of fever test results
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Temperature
Sensor (°C)

Mercury
thermometer (°C)

36.75
36.63
36.25
36.35
36.56
36.06
35.95
36.85
36.75
36.70
36.50
36.53
36.54
36.26
36.23
Average - Error

37.60
37.25
36.97
36.94
37.25
36.70
36.49
37.28
37.57
37.53
37.30
37.16
36.9636.71
36.75

Measurement
difference (°C)
0.85
0.62
0.72
0.59
0.69
0.64
0.54
0.43
0.82
0.83
0.80
0.63
0.42
0.45
0.52
0.64%

4. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKThe designed system goal is to provide in home, self-dependent,
real-time continuous monitoring for critical events, and alarming
system to prevent deterioration of the patient condition such as theCOVID-19 Pandemic. The system has many features with wireless(Wi-Fi) connectivity in range of up to 50 m (the distance between
the transmitter and receiver nodes), typical signal reception of onceevery 1–10 min under user control, frequency of data transmission
increases with fast temperature rise, temperature range 25–50°C
with 0.1°C resolution, preset alarm values, moisture resistant forhumid environments.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The author declares no conflicts of interest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research ofUniversity of Hail, for their support to my research.

A.S. Al-Mejrad / Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life 8(1) 37–40

40

REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]

R. Consolini, G. Costagliola, M. Gattorno, The challenge ofmanaging children with periodic fever syndromes in the era of
COVID-19, Front. Pediatr. 8 (2021), 620621.
E. Barbi, P. Marzuillo, E. Neri, S. Naviglio, B.S. Krauss, Fever inchildren: pearls and pitfalls, Children (Basel) 4 (2017), 81.
P.A. Kyriacou, Temperature sensor technology, in: D.P. Jones(Ed.), Biomedical Sensors, Momentum Press, New York, 2010,
pp. 1–38.

AUTHOR INTRODUCTION
Dr. Ali S. Al-Mejrad
He received the B.Sc. with 1st honor inElectrical Engineering from King SaudUniversity, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
M.Sc. in Bioengineering from Strathclyde
University, UK in 1987 and 1990, respectively; and the PhD in Medical Engineeringfrom University of Edinburgh, UK in 1996.
He is currently an Associate Professorof Medical Engineering and Instrumentation in ClinicalLaboratory Sciences in the College of Applied Medical Sciences,
UoH, KSA. His research interests include Development ofBiomedical Instrumentation and Intelligent Systems for HealthCare using advanced technologies. He is a member of IEEE andIPEM.

[4]
[5]

[6]

IEC 60601-1, “Medical Electrical Equipment - Part 1: General
Requirements for Basic Safety and Essential Performance”, Amd.2
Ed.3.2, 2020.
A.S. Al-Mejrad, Design and implementation of in-home wireless crucial events logging and alarming system for elderly
and disabled people care, J. Adv. Artif. Life Robot. 1 (2021),
208–212.
X.W. Yu, Design and application of wireless sensor network
monitoring software based on LABVIEW, Int. J. Online Eng. 13(2017), 29–42.