# Telemedicine: A Survey of Telecommunication Technologies, Developments, and Challenges
## 2 Related Work  
Several studies and surveys have been conducted into e-health and telemedicine. In one survey paper, [17], the authors addressed a number of central issues, including upcoming applications of internet and wireless telemedicine systems, in particular the emergence of mobile IP and possible compatibility with Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and GPRS-based phones for internet telemedicine. In a related article by [18], various applications and data transmission in e-health were discussed. In addition to the application of wireless telemedicine in real-time and digital data transmission currently in practice, the authors presented a broad overview and analysis of wireless technologies applied in telemedicine. In [19], the authors discussed IoT technologies and architecture, including the framework they can provide for use in telemedicine applications. In another related work [20], wireless technologies and their evolution for use in telemedicine were detailed, bringing researchers up to speed on how ICT has enhanced telemedicine. Other radio technologies, such as the RFID-based devices, were discussed in the context of Healthcare delivery in [21]. In [22], the authors described the application of wireless communication technologies in telemedicine, and provided detailed architectural framework. A number of the major issues with mobile telemedicine were highlighted, along with a summary of the potential benefits of integrated wireless telemedicine systems. A related study by [23] presented telemedicine communications technologies and the challenges involved in deploying telemedicine services in Indonesia. The communications technologies discussed included the application of wireless LAN and satellite communication in telemedicine designs. Another application of wireless communication and designs in telemedicine was discussed in [24], with particular emphasis on emerging technologies in telemedicine and ehealth applications. The author anticipated lower-cost wireless systems with improved data transfer rates and the use of intelligent agents in future designs of telemedicine systems. A similar overview of design analysis of mobile and wireless systems in telemedicine was presented in [25]. This article described three major aspects of mobile and wireless telemedicine designs, namely, mobile health systems, Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN), and intelligent wireless sensors. A closely related system based on ICT applications and architectures in telemedicine was presented in [26]. This paper emphasized ICT development in telemedicine and classification of wireless networks for applications in telemedicine, and presented a detailed review of telemedicine architectures. While most review articles to date have focused on close-range communications technologies, Ref. [27] presented satellite-based projects for telemedicine applications. Their paper described various wireless communication technologies for telemedicine and a number of specific architectures for e-health systems via satellite communications technology. In [28], an overview of the basic components of an end-to-end wireless medical video telemedicine system was presented. The authors discussed a wireless medical video telemedicine system architecture for real-time applications. Four broad classifications of research in m-health systems were presented in their report. Several factors problematizing the rapid deployment of telemedicine have been identified in research focused on telemedicine systems based on the internet in China [29]. In this study, the authors examined several telemedicine systems developed and adopted in China, including multicasting, teleconsultation, satellite-based communication, WLAN, SMS, Bluetooth, and wireless communication technologies. According to [3], most wireless telemedicine systems are associated with major issues, most prominently security, patient monitoring, scheduling, video compressing, and transmission media. In a similar survey, Ref.