A Project Report Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Embedded and Mobile Systems of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology
The growing number of chronic diseases have stretched the health sector. Globally, over 36 million
deaths per year are attributed to chronic diseases. This has increased the demand for telemedicine
in managing chronic patients. The involvement of wireless sensor networks and cloud computing
in the health sector is increasing due to the potential it possesses in remote monitoring applications.
This project presents a developed system prototype for monitoring heartbeat and temperature of
chronic patients using sensors. The monitored data is relayed to the cloud database in real time via
internet connection using ESP8266 module. The approach involves connecting a heartbeat sensor,
an MLX90614 contactless temperature sensor, LCD and an ESP8266 module to the Arduino
board. The aim of this project was to create a system that relays chronic patient’s body temperature
and heartbeat readings to medical personnel in an attempt to avert the effects of fewer health
facilities in rural areas. The patient’s data in the cloud database can be retrieved by medical doctors
anytime in order to track the patient’s condition. The sensed heartbeat and body temperature
readings were processed, sent and received in the cloud database effectively. The readings were
also displayed on the LCD for the patients to see. The developed system successfully fills the gap
in providing doctors access to the patient’s data in a timely manner. It was concluded that sensor
networks are effective in remote monitoring of the patient’s temperature and heartbeat readings
and the data can be successfully sent to the cloud database.