One of the emerging issues in m-Health is how best to exploit the mobile communications technologies that are now almost globally available. The challenge is to produce a system to transmit a patient's biomedical signals directly to a hospital for monitoring or diagnosis, using an unmodified mobile telephone. The paper focuses on the design of a processor, which samples signals from sensors on the patient. It then transmits digital data over a Bluetooth link to a mobile telephone that uses the General Packet Radio Service. The modular design adopted is intended to provide a "future-proofed" system, whose functionality may be upgraded by modifying the software.

This paper describes the design of a prototype integrated mobile telemedicine system that is compatible with existing mobile telecommunications networks and upgradable for use with third-generation networks. The system, when fully developed, will enable a doctor to monitor remotely a patient who is free to move around for sports medicine and for emergency situations.

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A telemedicine system is described for monitoring vital signs and general health indicators of patients with cardiac and diabetic conditions. Telemetry from wireless sensors and readings from other instruments are combined into a comprehensive set of measured patient parameters. Using a combination of mobile device applications and web browser, the data can be stored, accessed, and displayed using mobile internet communications to the central server. As an extra layer of security in the data transmission, information embedded in the data is used in its verification. The paper highlights features that could be enhanced from previous systems by using alternative components or methods.

-Future telemedicine systems will exploit mobile communications technology so that patients who are free to move around at home or at work, or in emergency medical situations, can be monitored in a hospital. At present, the GSM mobile telephone cellular network is limited to 9.6 kbps, but with the introduction of the third generation (3G) network, data rates of 144 kbps will be available, giving scope for the transmission of much more biomedical data as well as voice and video data if required. The paper discusses some of the issues involved and outlines the types of systems that will be viable with the new technology.

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The performance of mobile telemedical communications links based on the IS-54 and GSM cellular telephone standards (the most widely used commercial systems in North America and Europe, respectively) was studied by computer simulations. A photoplethysmography signal was used to investigate the transmission of medical data over simulated mobile phone channels. Various conditions were simulated in the communications path between a mobile transmitter and receiver, from perfect to distorted conditions. The results showed successful transmission, with bit error rates of better than 10(-7) at the receiver for the IS-54 standard. The performance of the IS-54 standard was superior to that of GSM in terms of minimum path delay variations, especially in built-up (urban) areas.