A Survey of Recent Trends in Wireless Communication Standards, Routing Protocols, and Energy Harvesting Techniques in E-Health Applications

Abstract

One of the most rapidly growing technology areas is the advances in sensing, networking, and miniaturization in medical domain, which enables innovative new applications. This is especially apparent in e-Health and telemedicine. There is an enormous demand for innovation in wireless sensor networking, body area networks, network security and routing, and many other areas, attracting the attention of numerous researchers. With all the advances it can be challenging to identify trends and areas with opportunities for research engagement. In this paper, the authors therefore review the state-of-the-art in wireless communication used in telemedicine and e-Health applications – ranging from the Wide Area Networks to Body Area Networks – and discuss the studies and literature that employ these technologies for e-Health applications. Moreover, recent routing protocols and techniques that are used for Body Area Networks are investigated. One key challenge for e-Health applications, particularly for mobile or patient-worn devices, is energy consumption and supply. One possible solution is found in energy harvesting, and our survey encompasses current challenges and accomplishments in its application to e-Health and discuss various promising techniques.