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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on global healthcare systems, particularly exposing the inadequacies in resource allocation and technology application in developing countries. Remote areas, due to a lack of medical facilities and shortage of professionals, struggle to achieve timely health monitoring and intervention. Consequently, there has been a surge in demand for remote health monitoring technologies; however, existing solutions often rely on internet connectivity or expensive equipment, making them difficult to promote in areas with weak infrastructure. This paper aims to design an IoT health monitoring system based on open-source technology, low power consumption, and no internet requirement, to address the challenges of basic medical data collection and real-time transmission in remote areas.
The figure shows the monitoring system architecture of this study.
Research Content
This study developed an open-source IoT health monitoring system based on the ESP32 microcontroller, integrating multiple sensors to measure key physiological parameters. The core hardware of the system is the ESP32-WROOM-32 chip, whose dual-core processor supports local IoT server configuration and can establish a private communication network via a Wi-Fi router, ensuring data transmission in a no-internet environment. The sensor modules include:
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MAX30100 Sensor
Measures heart rate and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) using photoplethysmography, with a sampling rate of up to 100 times/second, equipped with ambient light cancellation technology to improve accuracy.
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DHT11 Sensor
Detects axillary temperature and environmental humidity and temperature, with an accuracy of ±2 ℃ (temperature) and ±5% (humidity).
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BN-220 GPS Module
Real-time acquisition of user geographical location, supporting multiple satellite positioning systems (GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou).
After data collection, the ESP32 transmits the processed information to a local dashboard via HTTP protocol, allowing healthcare personnel to access real-time data through a specified IP address. The system also features an emergency alert function, which users can actively trigger. During the testing phase, the research team monitored five volunteers for up to one hour, with results showing: temperature measurement error of less than ±0.5 ℃, heart rate and blood oxygen data consistent with commercial devices, and environmental humidity and temperature monitoring meeting daily needs. The overall power consumption of the system is less than 4 watts, with hardware costs around 34 Canadian dollars, making it suitable for deployment in resource-limited areas.
Technically, the system is programmed using Arduino IDE, connecting sensors via I2C and one-wire protocols, utilizing the ESP32’s Wi-Fi module to build a private network. Data security is ensured through SSID encryption and firewall protection, preventing unauthorized access. Experiments also validated the local network’s throughput (17×10⁵ bps) and memory usage (approximately 93 KB), indicating that the system can operate stably in low-configuration environments.
Research Summary
This study successfully constructed a low-cost, low-power open-source IoT health monitoring system, providing a feasible medical monitoring solution for remote areas lacking internet access through localized networks and sensor integration. The system demonstrates excellent performance in accuracy, real-time capability, and scalability, particularly suitable for infectious disease prevention and control, chronic disease management, and emergency medical response scenarios. Future work will further integrate respiratory rate monitoring and artificial intelligence analysis functions to promote the inclusive development of remote medical technology.
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Ashraf, S.; Khattak, S.P.; Iqbal, M.T. Design and Implementation of an Open-Source and Internet-of-Things-Based Health Monitoring System. J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2023, 13, 57.
JLPEA Journal Introduction
Editor-in-Chief: Davide Bertozzi, University of Manchester, UK
The journal aims to publish innovative research and significant results in the field of low-power electronics. The scope of the journal includes but is not limited to emerging electronic devices and process technologies, analog, digital, and mixed-signal VLSI circuits, architecture and system design, SoC and embedded systems, energy harvesting and battery-free systems, integration and optimization tools, as well as CAD tools and methods for low-power design. Currently indexed by databases such as Scopus and ESCI.
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2023 Impact Factor |
1.6 |
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2023 CiteScore |
3.6 |
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Time to First Decision |
20 Days |
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Acceptance to Publication |
2.7 Days |
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