5G and Telemedicine - Free Paper Example

Introduction

The use of smartphones has been increasing rapidly and it is expected that in future most people will have a smartphone capable of high speed Internet connection. The capability of smartphones with high definition display, computation power and multitude of sensors made it an excellent candidate for telemedicine application. Telemedicine’s applications and high data medical information generally require high definition visuals and lower latency connection, in addition mobility and reliability. The next generation of wireless communication standard, known as 5G, will provide data speed in (Gigabit per second) Gb/s with lower latency and higher reliability connection, and can be better approach for future telemedicine. In this paper we survey the current state of telemedicine along with examining the characteristics of 5G technology. We shall see how the Telemedicine and 5G, together, form a composite business ecosystem. We also discuss the research challenges concerning 5G and telemedicine.

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5G, Telemedicines, Wireless Communications, Business Modeling, Business Ecosystems

According to recent survey 90% of medical practitioners are utilizing smartphones for clinical applications. By using smartphones, communication or interaction to patients becomes very easy and more effective. The estimated number of clinical applications available on smartphone is approximately 95,000. Furthermore, Internet of things (IoTs) is changing the way of our everyday life, as it is going to allow many things feasible and accessible e.g., smarter health care services, smart town and cities, smart automobiles and smarter retailing and shopping.

Wireless mobile communication is not only changing the way of our life but also becoming an integral part of our lives. 6martphones contribute a lot in keeping us updated in every aspect of life, as they can access a large number of information through Internet anytime, anywhere, and at a high speed. In early days, cellular technology was only focused on messaging and making phone calls but now it is possible to perform much more complex communication and computation tasks, in particular being connected with broadband mobile Internet connection.

As smartphones or smart devices are becoming more and more computationally powerful, along with high resolution displays, multiple ways of interaction, and various kind of embedded sensors that need for faster data rate, the low latency and higher reliability become more and more crucial and thus important. Therefore, 5G will be very important in this scenario, having capacity and high data rates, and is able to transmit data at Gb/s speed in 2020, which is about 200 times faster than 4G.

Telemedicine or telehealth is an inter-disciplinary area, which uses telecommunication technology to deliver medical information, medical help and services to remote areas at distant places, especially for the elderly and disabled persons. Telemedicine can be utilized as a first line strategy in case of emergency situations and disaster management. It was first applied in Mexico disaster by NASA in 1985. Voice communication was possible within 24 hours. With the passage of time and advancement in technology, this latency is now become small as in milliseconds by continuous modification and now by the new technology concept 5th generation mobile wireless communication (5G) which is becoming reality in 2020.

We predict 5G along with telemedicine is going to revolutionize healthcare, and can be imagined in case of availability and time factors. Whereas, availability factor is basically introducing more specialists and medical physician to come and practice the telemedicine and time factor is handled by the faster wireless technology with high data rates such as 5G effectively and precisely for the delivery of virtual authentic medical care to patients.

The main lineaments of telemedicine are that it should be climbable, transparent or crystalline, provide geographical or global coverage, and fault tolerance with security, and authentication. Hospital digital networking concept came into being because of new faster wireless communication technologies, which are enhancing the approach of specialists and patients with each other to communicate visually and talk and share their condition with suggestive approach and strategies.

Business ecosystem is a stage where various inter-/cross- disciplinary areas collocate for realistic commercial arena. Based on the aforementioned information, we can see that 5G and Telemedicine shall converge forming a steady and sturdy business ecosystems.

The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Section II describes important attributes of 5G in relation to telemedicine. Section III presents what are the research challenges in connection to 5G and telemedicine. Section IV shall elaborately stress on the Business domain of this amalgamation And lastly, conclude the paper in Section V.

Important Attributes of 5G in Relation to Telemedicine

In 2020, new and more revolutionized telehealth services will need wireless technology which can support high definition (HD) video quality, faster speed, low latency with no interruption in signaling pathway, more authentic in providing security and supportive for subscribers to use and subscribe applications especially in telemedicine, which is a concept truly based on the delivery of medical information to remote areas by utilizing wireless communication technology. 5G is going to address M2M (machine to machine) communication.

Mission critical type communication, it is real time controlled and has automated field function and processing such as robotically performed remote tele- surgery. In tele-surgery doctors can perform a surgery without their presence in a particular location, virtually through wireless technology. Tele- surgery needs more immense coordination between different surgeons which are remotely connected and this also requires that information of each performed task should be available with minimum latency in real-time scenario. 5G, in this scenario, will be more reliable with faster speed and low latency.

5G has mobility with faster speed and low latency [9], which is less than one millisecond. Virtual reality and HD videos should be as detailed as human retina can detect. For this 300 Mb/s is generally required and this technology is 100 times above with low data rate and ultra-reliability, to carry out the High definition videos. It will be very helpful in dealing patients in video conferences to avoid breach in communication [6].

Medical image transmission and videos require larger bandwidth. These images and videos are compressed during transmission and it is expected on the other end that there would be no data or image loss after receiving. 5G can handle HD videos and high data transmission in case of remote monitoring of patients, video conferencing, robotic equipment’s, smart pharmaceuticals such as ventilators, fluid rate and drug delivery systems attached to the patients in remote areas. As an example, in diabetic patients, insulin reservoir are controlled and connected with wireless technology. Sensors provide the signals on daily basis for body glucose level. Insulin is then injected accordingly after taking the values.

With 5G, first-aid could be delivered in small duration of time and communication without interruption available with the blink of eye.

Cloud service robotics for supportive therapy will be easy as offloading and uploading of information for recognition of language, object and cognitive skills will be predicted on real time with no interruption. Cost will also be reduced as less number of robots is involved [5].

Remote monitoring of elderly patients will be optimized through continuous updates about life style modification and treatment for patients with chronic diseases and related disabilities. Their rehabilitation care plan and strategies can be reviewed by wireless communication, for this wireless technology has to follow the same standard for urban and rural areas where there is higher density of followers and users.

Research Challenges

A new and advance form of existing technology always has inherent challenges to deal with new problems. First generation mobile communication (1G) came in 1980s while fifth generation (5G) is going to be commercialized in 2020. It is a journey of approximately 40 years. During the modification and transformation of these technologies, we are still lacking proper infrastructure, standards, security and legislations concerning wireless communication technology.

Tertiary clinical center implicate two or three medical professionals to deal with a common patient case especially in pediatric cardiology, where data which is in the form of images or medical records are transferred to get a common solution of a given problem e.g., ECG, chest radiology and murmurs of neonates is called inter telemedicine services.

On the other hand, different tele conferences and meetings would be arranged to join different medical professionals from different departments called intra telemedicine services. This is mostly happened by communication through wireless technology. For Medical images transmission and videos require larger bandwidth and high resolution for 3D (three dimensional) images and other body scans so that after compression during transmission, there would be no data loss or interruption in the other receiving end because service is shared by different users at one time in a common place.

Conclusion

More and more patients are motivated to consult with doctors online. It is not only saving time but its cost effective features making it more reliable. 5G can play a more vital role to access these consultations frequently and remotely with ultra-low cost and low- end data rate reliability.