# A Detailed Research on Human Health Monitoring System Based on Internet of Things

Authors: Lei Ru; Bin Zhang; Jing Duan; Guo Ru; Ashutosh Sharma; Gaurav Dhiman; Gurjot Singh Gaba; Emad Sami Jaha; Mehedi Masud
Journal: Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing
 (2021)

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## Abstract

The technological advent in smart sensing devices and the Internet has provided practical solutions in various sectors of networking, public and private sector industries, and government organizations worldwide. This study intends to combine the Internet of Things (IoT) technology with health monitoring to make it personalized and timely through allowing the interconnection between the devices. This work is aimed at exploring various wearable health monitoring modules that people wear to monitor heart rate, blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, and physiological information. The information is acquired using the wireless sensor to create a health monitoring system. The data is integrated using the Internet of Things for processing, connecting, and computing to achieve real-time monitoring. The temperature of three people measured by the temperature thermometer is 36.4, 36.7, and 36.5 (°C), respectively, and the average acquired by the monitoring system of the three people is 36.5, 36.4, and 36.5 (°C), respectively, indicating that the system demonstrated relatively accurate and stable testability. The user’s ECG is displayed clearly and conveniently using the ECG acquisition system. The pulse rate of the three people tested by the system is 78, 78, and 79 (times/min), respectively, similar to the medical pulse meter results. The physiological information acquired using the semantic recognition, matching system, and character matching system is relatively accurate. It concludes that the human health monitoring system based on the Internet of Things can provide people with daily health management, instrumental in heightening health service quality and level.


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## Body

## 1. Introduction

In 2017, theReport on the Status of Chinese Residents’ Nutrition and Chronic Diseases issued by the Ministry of Health pointed out that the mortality rate of chronic diseases, represented by cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, is about 85.5% each year, and chronic diseases account for about 75% of all diseases in China [1]. Internet healthcare focuses on chronic high-risk diseases and subhealthy groups due to many subhealthy groups, together with the long course, complex etiology, and high treatment costs of chronic diseases. It follows that human health monitoring based on the Internet of Things (IoT) is popularized. As a result of the rapidly expanded aging population in China and the improvement of living standards, the subhealthy population increases with chronic diseases. Creating efficient, convenient, safe, and reliable healthcare conditions and services is a basic need for Chinese people. It is highly urgent to develop a health monitoring system to achieve remote real-time health monitoring [2–4].IoT technology uses smart sensing devices and the Internet to provide an effective solution to the challenges faced by the networks, public and private sector industries, and government organizations worldwide [5]. The IoT innovations have emerged a new paradigm in using smart systems and intelligent devices to analyze data for various applications [6–10]. A basic IoT structure with generalized architecture is presented in Figure 1.Figure 1
IoT architecture.The various applications [11–15] in which IOT can comprise security and surveillance, automation of agriculture, healthcare, traffic management, the emergence of smart cities, etc. [16–19]. At present, there has not been a unified concept of the Internet of Things. Li Hang defines the Internet of Things as a kind of Internet that is based on various information sensors, radio frequency identification technology, global positioning system, infrared sensors, light, heat, electricity, machinery, chemistry, biology, location, and other information of a target [20]. Health monitoring is the continuous collection of individual health-related physiological parameters and related influence factors through a certain monitoring system. That follows the process, analysis, and summarization of data to generate health-related information spread to the corresponding individuals or groups, guiding disease prevention and control, promoting health management, and accelerating health conditions.At present, there is a variety of studies on human health monitoring systems based on the Internet of Things worldwide. The development of human health monitoring systems based on the Internet of Things in foreign countries is earlier than that in China. Significant progress has been made in remote consultation and remote monitoring of blood pressure, blood glucose values, and some medical data (long-distance transmission). Rezaeibagha and Mu [21] designed an Agent system that can monitor vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, and body temperature, which was connected to wireless sensors. Agnisarman et al. [22] have designed a remote video medical diagnosis system, which used the Internet of Things technology to facilitate the doctor’s medical diagnosis process, with multifunctional modes such as online consultation and video dialogue. Mugica et al. [23] designed an ECG monitor matched with the Android system’s intelligent terminal to realize remote monitoring. Tamilselvi et al. [24] proposed a health monitoring system that can assess patients’ primary symptoms like their oxygen level, body temperature, and eye movement using the IoT platform. Acharya et al. [25] developed a kit for healthcare monitoring using the IoT platform to assess the parameters like a heartbeat, ECG, temperature, and respiration using various intelligent sensors. The major limitation of this system is that data visualization is ineffective due to the lack of interface. A pulse rate detection system was presented by Banerjee et al. [26] using a noninvasive method. This method uses a real-time monitoring platform for interactive IoT applications. Gregoski et al. [27] presented a smartphone-based technique for heart rate monitoring using mobile and camera interaction. Oresko et al. [28] developed a smartphone interactive tool for identifying cardiovascular diseases to monitor the level of heart rate during the progression of time. Trivedi et al. [29] developed a mobile-based method for monitoring analog data for surveillance applications. The Arduino platform is used for digital conversion, and Bluetooth transmission is required to transmit physical quantities to the device. Kumar et al. [30] suggested a safety device incorporating the IoT platform at three separate layers: control, device, and transport layer. The information is uploaded on the cloud platform using Wi-Fi and Ethernet. Desai et al. [31] proposed a wireless sensor network-based approach to track smart homes and heartbeat monitoring using the Spartan3 and FPGA interface.IoT’s evolution has increased nowadays with smart devices’ tremendous ability to share information between them [32]. The reliance on IoT on various applications has widened its importance in the healthcare sector for remote monitoring of patients’ criticality levels [33, 34]. This technological advent has come across various domains of safety, health, and human wellbeing [35, 36]. IoT is advantageous in computation, processing, and storage utilizing cloud-based solutions [35–37]. It is also beneficial in processing and storing the geographical data on the cloud platform, which can be shared between the devices for various applications [38, 39]. The current human health monitoring system based on the Internet of Things has some limitations, such as increasing users and uploaded databases, no guarantee for users, poor real-time performance, and low data utilization. A human health monitoring system based on the Internet of Things is designed in this work. The system can uninterruptedly and accurately monitor the human body’s heart rate, blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, physiological information, and other vital sign parameters. This work uses wireless sensors to retain the information for health monitoring. The data is integrated using the Internet of Things for processing, connecting, and computing to achieve real-time monitoring. The proposed system demonstrated relatively accurate and stable test ability improving deficiencies in the existing health monitoring platform [40, 41]. This article contributes in daily health management using the human health monitoring system based on the Internet of Things which is instrumental in heightening health service quality and level.This article is organized as follows: Section2 presents the material and methods defining the various modules designed for the health monitoring framework. Section 3 presents the results and discussion of the analysis done in this study, followed by the article’s concluding remarks in Section 4.


## 2. Materials and Methods

The health monitoring system using IoT consists of various modules like pulse acquisition module, body temperature acquisition module, heart rate acquisition module, and blood pressure acquisition module. All these frameworks are elaborated in this section.


### 2.1. The Framework of the Health Monitoring System Based on the Internet of Things

The health monitoring and medical information system based on the Internet of Things integrate technologies such as wireless networks and mobile computing, aiming to provide patients with remotely receivable sensing, sound, image, and video multimedia information, enhancing medical diagnosis accuracy the quality of clinical services. The patient’s blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, pulse, and other information can be collected accurately by wearing related equipment. Information is transmitted using sensor network technologies such as Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ultrawideband, and short-range wireless transmission, as shown in Figure2.Figure 2
The framework of health monitoring and medical information system based on the Internet of Things.


### 2.2. The Framework of Health Monitoring Terminal System Based on Internet of Things Human

In the human health monitoring system based on the Internet of Things, the terminal system is mainly responsible for collecting and monitoring normal human health data. When abnormal data occurs, the terminal’s alarm system will raise the alarm. At this time, it is necessary to conduct research and analysis on abnormal data and perform timely data processing. For example, the monitor’s specific situation is confirmed first, and then, emergency rescue measures are carried out. Therefore, monitoring various indexes of the subjects is highly critical. To sum up, based on the existing research state quo and results and the market demand, the terminal system’s hardware framework is designed for human health monitoring based on the Internet of Things. The terminal is mainly divided into a health monitoring project module, a data acquisition module, a data receiving module, a data transmission module, a data processing module, and a display and alarm module, as shown in Figure3.Figure 3
The framework of the human health monitoring terminal system.


### 2.3. Pulse Acquisition Module

Generally speaking, the photoelectric pulse sensor is divided into two types: transmitted wave monitoring and reflected wave monitoring according to how to detect light [42]. Their key components are the same (i.e., stable light source and light-receiving sensor). The impulse data sensor of Rohm Semiconductor Group is selected in the study, as shown in Figure 4.Figure 4
The pulse acquisition module diagram.


### 2.4. Body Temperature Acquisition Module

In this study, the voltage output integrated temperature sensor is selected for the health monitoring system terminal, and the hardware circuit is designed. The digital conversion of the output analog signal is realized through the displayer, as shown in Figure5.Figure 5
The structure diagram of the body temperature collection module.The temperature sensor converts the temperature signal into a voltage output, performs low-pass filtering on the output signal to remove noise, and then amplifies the temperature sensor output voltage to a voltage level by the amplifier circuit [43].


### 2.5. Heart Rate Acquisition Module

The light volume method’s principle is to measure the heart rate using the difference in the blood vessel’s light transmittance caused by the pulse’s beating [44]. The light source is converted into an optical signal using a photoelectric sensor, and the optical signal is then converted into an electrical signal by a filter circuit. The selected wavelength is 650 nm-750 nm. The signal flow of the heart rate sensor is shown in Figure 6.Figure 6
The diagram of the heart rate acquisition module.When the light passes through human peripheral blood vessels, the volume change caused by pulse congestion affects the light source’s light transmittance. The light signal reflected by the photoelectric converter through the human body’s peripheral blood vessels is converted and output by the amplifier circuit. The heart rate is output in analog voltage. This value is acquired using the heart rate acquisition module.


### 2.6. Blood Pressure Acquisition Module

Blood pressure monitoring methods can be divided into the direct method and indirect method (Oscillometric method). The indirect method avoids the direct method’s shortcomings, such as being complicated and traumatic [45]. It monitors the pressure value on the body surface using the relationship between the vessel’s pressure and the FM flow change. It is easy to operate, hygienic and concise without particularly severe medical restrictions, and does not harm health. As a result, the indirect method is more commonly used. Not only is the blood pressure monitored without any trauma to the human body but the monitored values are also more accurate [6–15]. The system diagram is shown in Figure 7.Figure 7
The diagram of the blood pressure acquisition module.The signal acquisition and processing are dependent on the op-amp LM324. The sensor is a BP300 sensor, which is sensitive, accurate, and precise. Besides, air pumps, resistors, and capacitors are also necessary components. The pressure sensor converts the pressure signal by converting the blood flow pressure signal in the inflatable bandage into a voltage signal close to the microcontroller’s voltage amplitude. The one-chip computer collects and processes the signal and is responsible for the control of the entire circuit.


## 2.1. The Framework of the Health Monitoring System Based on the Internet of Things

The health monitoring and medical information system based on the Internet of Things integrate technologies such as wireless networks and mobile computing, aiming to provide patients with remotely receivable sensing, sound, image, and video multimedia information, enhancing medical diagnosis accuracy the quality of clinical services. The patient’s blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, pulse, and other information can be collected accurately by wearing related equipment. Information is transmitted using sensor network technologies such as Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ultrawideband, and short-range wireless transmission, as shown in Figure2.Figure 2
The framework of health monitoring and medical information system based on the Internet of Things.


## 2.2. The Framework of Health Monitoring Terminal System Based on Internet of Things Human

In the human health monitoring system based on the Internet of Things, the terminal system is mainly responsible for collecting and monitoring normal human health data. When abnormal data occurs, the terminal’s alarm system will raise the alarm. At this time, it is necessary to conduct research and analysis on abnormal data and perform timely data processing. For example, the monitor’s specific situation is confirmed first, and then, emergency rescue measures are carried out. Therefore, monitoring various indexes of the subjects is highly critical. To sum up, based on the existing research state quo and results and the market demand, the terminal system’s hardware framework is designed for human health monitoring based on the Internet of Things. The terminal is mainly divided into a health monitoring project module, a data acquisition module, a data receiving module, a data transmission module, a data processing module, and a display and alarm module, as shown in Figure3.Figure 3
The framework of the human health monitoring terminal system.


## 2.3. Pulse Acquisition Module

Generally speaking, the photoelectric pulse sensor is divided into two types: transmitted wave monitoring and reflected wave monitoring according to how to detect light [42]. Their key components are the same (i.e., stable light source and light-receiving sensor). The impulse data sensor of Rohm Semiconductor Group is selected in the study, as shown in Figure 4.Figure 4
The pulse acquisition module diagram.


## 2.4. Body Temperature Acquisition Module

In this study, the voltage output integrated temperature sensor is selected for the health monitoring system terminal, and the hardware circuit is designed. The digital conversion of the output analog signal is realized through the displayer, as shown in Figure5.Figure 5
The structure diagram of the body temperature collection module.The temperature sensor converts the temperature signal into a voltage output, performs low-pass filtering on the output signal to remove noise, and then amplifies the temperature sensor output voltage to a voltage level by the amplifier circuit [43].


## 2.5. Heart Rate Acquisition Module

The light volume method’s principle is to measure the heart rate using the difference in the blood vessel’s light transmittance caused by the pulse’s beating [44]. The light source is converted into an optical signal using a photoelectric sensor, and the optical signal is then converted into an electrical signal by a filter circuit. The selected wavelength is 650 nm-750 nm. The signal flow of the heart rate sensor is shown in Figure 6.Figure 6
The diagram of the heart rate acquisition module.When the light passes through human peripheral blood vessels, the volume change caused by pulse congestion affects the light source’s light transmittance. The light signal reflected by the photoelectric converter through the human body’s peripheral blood vessels is converted and output by the amplifier circuit. The heart rate is output in analog voltage. This value is acquired using the heart rate acquisition module.


## 2.6. Blood Pressure Acquisition Module

Blood pressure monitoring methods can be divided into the direct method and indirect method (Oscillometric method). The indirect method avoids the direct method’s shortcomings, such as being complicated and traumatic [45]. It monitors the pressure value on the body surface using the relationship between the vessel’s pressure and the FM flow change. It is easy to operate, hygienic and concise without particularly severe medical restrictions, and does not harm health. As a result, the indirect method is more commonly used. Not only is the blood pressure monitored without any trauma to the human body but the monitored values are also more accurate [6–15]. The system diagram is shown in Figure 7.Figure 7
The diagram of the blood pressure acquisition module.The signal acquisition and processing are dependent on the op-amp LM324. The sensor is a BP300 sensor, which is sensitive, accurate, and precise. Besides, air pumps, resistors, and capacitors are also necessary components. The pressure sensor converts the pressure signal by converting the blood flow pressure signal in the inflatable bandage into a voltage signal close to the microcontroller’s voltage amplitude. The one-chip computer collects and processes the signal and is responsible for the control of the entire circuit.


## 3. Results and Discussion

The experimentation outcomes are analyzed in this section discussing various compliances and assessing outcomes obtained from their implementation. Various modules like pulse acquisition, body temperature monitoring, ECG, and physiological information acquisition are observed in the upcoming subsections.


### 3.1. Compliance Test of the Pulse Acquisition Module

It is evident from the pulse test results that the three subjects’ pulse values are all within the normal range (the pulse rate of an average adult is 70~90 beats/min). The pulse signal acquisition test is performed three times for each person, and the average pulse value acquired is 78, 78, and 79 (beats/min), respectively. The thermometer’s corresponding values are 77, 79, and 78, indicating that the system’s test results are relatively accurate, as shown in Figure8.Figure 8
The pulse test results.Although there is deviation sometimes, it is within the acceptable range. This is because the sensor of the pulse acquisition module is associated with the circuit design. It can be further improved in the future to acquire more accurate results.


### 3.2. Compliance Test of Body Temperature Acquisition Module

Three people were selected as test subjects to conduct temperature measurements to make reasonable judgments on the temperature monitoring module’s performance to evaluate the system’s accuracy more rigorously.As shown in Figure9, three persons’ temperature using a thermometer is 36.4°C, 36.7°C, and 36.5°C, respectively. The temperature test was carried out three times for each person, and the average of each person acquired by the system is 36.5°C, 36.4°C, and 36.5°C, respectively. It is evident that this system’s measurements are very close to those of a thermometer and can monitor body temperature. It also indicates that the temperature test of this system is relatively stable.Figure 9
The temperature test results.


### 3.3. Compliance Test of ECG Information Acquisition Module

In monitoring the ECG information collection module, the first step is to update or load the user’s latest ECG measurement record information. Simultaneously, the corresponding detailed operation page will be displayed so that the real-time ECG image is acquired. Considering that the ECG data points are complicated, slight adjustments can be performed in the image’s functional area to achieve the best results to view a particular segment’s image curve. The ECG operation interface is shown in Figure10.Figure 10
The 30-second ECG.


### 3.4. The Compliance Test of the Physiological Information Acquisition Module

It is found that as the number of keywords input by users increases, whether it is a traditional character matching system or not, the accuracy to obtain information is further raised, as shown in Figure11, to verify the rationality of the semantic recognition and matching system and improve the traditional character matching system, through simulation experiments.Figure 11
The comparison of keyword matching.Therefore, in addition to measuring pulse and temperature, users should also be provided with more physiological-related information to understand their physical condition better.


## 3.1. Compliance Test of the Pulse Acquisition Module

It is evident from the pulse test results that the three subjects’ pulse values are all within the normal range (the pulse rate of an average adult is 70~90 beats/min). The pulse signal acquisition test is performed three times for each person, and the average pulse value acquired is 78, 78, and 79 (beats/min), respectively. The thermometer’s corresponding values are 77, 79, and 78, indicating that the system’s test results are relatively accurate, as shown in Figure8.Figure 8
The pulse test results.Although there is deviation sometimes, it is within the acceptable range. This is because the sensor of the pulse acquisition module is associated with the circuit design. It can be further improved in the future to acquire more accurate results.


## 3.2. Compliance Test of Body Temperature Acquisition Module

Three people were selected as test subjects to conduct temperature measurements to make reasonable judgments on the temperature monitoring module’s performance to evaluate the system’s accuracy more rigorously.As shown in Figure9, three persons’ temperature using a thermometer is 36.4°C, 36.7°C, and 36.5°C, respectively. The temperature test was carried out three times for each person, and the average of each person acquired by the system is 36.5°C, 36.4°C, and 36.5°C, respectively. It is evident that this system’s measurements are very close to those of a thermometer and can monitor body temperature. It also indicates that the temperature test of this system is relatively stable.Figure 9
The temperature test results.


## 3.3. Compliance Test of ECG Information Acquisition Module

In monitoring the ECG information collection module, the first step is to update or load the user’s latest ECG measurement record information. Simultaneously, the corresponding detailed operation page will be displayed so that the real-time ECG image is acquired. Considering that the ECG data points are complicated, slight adjustments can be performed in the image’s functional area to achieve the best results to view a particular segment’s image curve. The ECG operation interface is shown in Figure10.Figure 10
The 30-second ECG.


## 3.4. The Compliance Test of the Physiological Information Acquisition Module

It is found that as the number of keywords input by users increases, whether it is a traditional character matching system or not, the accuracy to obtain information is further raised, as shown in Figure11, to verify the rationality of the semantic recognition and matching system and improve the traditional character matching system, through simulation experiments.Figure 11
The comparison of keyword matching.Therefore, in addition to measuring pulse and temperature, users should also be provided with more physiological-related information to understand their physical condition better.


## 4. Conclusion

In the study, the wireless sensor technology is combined with the human health monitoring terminal based on the Internet of Things to test the health-related indexes. The test results are analyzed. It is observed that the human health monitoring system of the Internet of Things is relatively stable and has functions such as an accurate collection of human health data, real-time monitoring and alarming, and evaluation of subjects. The subjects were assessed for temperature using the thermometer, which provides the temperature values of 36.4, 36.7, and 36.5 (°C), respectively, demonstrating relatively accurate and stable testability. Similarly, the pulse rate monitoring module employing the ECG observes the test outcomes of 78, 78, and 79 (times/min), respectively, similar to the medical pulse meter results.The human health monitoring system based on the Internet of Things designed in this study has completed collecting the user’s blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, heart rate, physiological information, and other vital sign data, which is suggested in practice. After long-term data collection, factors related to a potential risk prediction should be further explored in the future to expand the application of human health monitoring systems based on the Internet of Things. This will provide a scientific and effective basis for preventing and controlling chronic high-risk diseases in the near future.



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