Narrowband IoT for Emergency Medicine

Abstract

The arrival of internet of things (IoT) is a new revolution in the information and communication technologies. It added several new dimensions to the new and existing platforms of ICTs. It has improved the quality of our modern living by several new and smart technologies and their value-added applications. Applying the new emerging technologies in emergency medical services could offer better services to human lives during the emergency conditions. This chapter provides an overview of utilizing the IoT in the field of emergency medicine. IoT has tremendous potential to transform how the healthcare providers interact with patients. In order to achieve this, the healthcare sectors need widespread adoption and implementation of IoT. Healthcare sector is huge when compared with other IoT-enabled sectors. Therefore, the widespread deployment of IoT needs an effective version of IoT which is economical and does not pose any risk to the patients. Both these criteria can be met by the lighter and simpler version of IoT known as narrowband IoT (NBIoT). It is suitable due to its low power wide area (LPWA) coverage capabilities. In this chapter, the authors review the network architectures, applications, and trends of NBIoT in the modern healthcare. They further discuss how different wearable devices with coordinated smart sensors can improve emergency monitoring of patients for improved services in out-hospital and in-hospital scenarios. Finally, they give an account of advantages and disadvantages NBIoT in the emergency medical applications.