Title: Tapping TV white space spectrum for telemedicine applications in India

Authors: S. Mohandass; G. Umamaheswari

Addresses: Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Peelamedu, Coimbatore – 641004, India ' Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Peelamedu, Coimbatore – 641004, India

Abstract: Telemedicine is defined as the delivery of health care services and sharing of medical knowledge over a distance using telecommunication means. In this paper, we investigate the opportunistic access of TV white space spectrum for telemedicine applications. The spectrum requirements for wireless multimedia applications increase exponentially, leading to spectrum scarcity. However, recent studies show that most of the licensed spectrum is underutilised. Cognitive radio (CR) has been recognised as a promising technology that bridges the gap between spectrum scarcity and underutilisation of the available spectrum. We propose a framework for the remote monitoring and analysis of patient's health based on CR. The proposed CR transceiver uses TV white spaces for the transmission of ECG signals. TV white spaces are the unused TV broadcast channels made available by the transition from analogue to digital TV in the near future in India.

Keywords: telemedicine; TV white space spectrum; cognitive radio; India; healthcare services; wireless multimedia; remote monitoring; patient monitoring; patient analysis; television white spaces.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTMCP.2016.077901

International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices, 2016 Vol.1 No.3, pp.224 - 237

Received: 20 Mar 2014
Accepted: 01 Dec 2014
Published online: 22 Jul 2016 *

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