Abstract
RFID
Now-a-days the deaths caused due to the heart
failure have been of major concern .The majority of the
deaths caused by heart failures are due to the lack of
medical assistance in time.
This paper gives an insight of a new technology that
relates directly to the exploding wireless marketplace. This
technology is a whole new wireless and RFID (Radio
Frequency Identification) enabled frontier in which a
victim’s actual location is integral for providing valuable
medical services.
The paper will be demonstrating for the first time ever the
usage of wireless telecommunications systems and
miniature sensor devices like RFID passive Tags , that are
smaller than a grain of rice and equipped with a tiny
antenna which will capture and wirelessly transmit a
person's vital body-function data, such as pulse or body
temperature , to an integrated ground station. In addition,
the antenna will also receive information regarding the
location of the individual from the GPS (Global Positioning
Satellite) System. Both sets of data medical information
and location will then be wirelessly transmitted to the
ground station and made available to save lives by remotely
monitoring the medical conditions of at-risk patients and
providing emergency rescue units with the person's exact
location.
This paper gives a predicted general model for Heart
Failure Alert System. It also discusses the Algorithm for
converting the Analog pulse to Binary data in the tag and
the Algorithm for Alerting the Location & Tracking
Station. It discusses in detail the various stages involved in
tracking the exact location of the Victim using this
technology.
Keywords:
RFID, RFID-passive tags, GPS, PAM.
1. Introduction:
It is tough to declare convincingly what is the most
important organ of our body.And one of the primary organs
which the body cannot dowithout is the heart, 72 beats a
minute or over a trillion in alifetime. The pump house of
our body pumping the blood to every corner of our body
every moment, thus sending oxygen and nutrients to each
and every cell. Over a period of time, the heart muscles go
weak, the arteries get blocked and sometimes because of a
shock a part of the heart stops functioning resulting in what
is called a HEART ATTACK.
Heart attack is a major cause of death and in today’s
tension full world it has become very common. Presently
there is no mechanism by which a device monitors a
person’s heart 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and gives him
instant protection in case of problem. Our primary focus is
on people with a history of heart problem as they are more
prone to death due to heart failure. In the 1970s, a group of
scientists at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLL)
realized that a handheld receiver stimulated by RF power
could send back a coded radio signal.Such a system could
be connected to a simple computer and used to control
access to a secure facility.
RFID or Radio Frequency identification is a technology
that enables the tracking or identification of objects using
IC based tags with an RF circuit and antenna, and RF
readers that "read" and in some case modify the
information stored in the IC memory. RFID is an
automated data-capture technology that can be used to
electronically identify, track, and store information about
groups of products, individual items, or product
components. The technology consists of three key
pieces:
• RFID tags;
• RFID readers;
• A data collection and management
system.
Rfid tags:
RFID tags are small or miniaturized computer chips
programmed with information about a product or with a
number that corresponds to information that is stored in a
database. The tags can be located inside or on the surface of
the product, item, or packing material.
The RF tags could be divided in two major groups:
Passive, where the power to energize the tag’s circuitry is
draw from the reader generated field.
Active, in this case the tag has an internal power source, in
general a battery that could be replaceable or Not.
Rfid readers:
RFID readers are querying systems that interrogate
or send signals to the tags and receive the responses. RFID
readers are usually on, continually transmitting radio
energy and awaiting any tags that enter their
field of operation. Thus, it is possible to configure an RFID
reader so that it sends the radio pulse only in response to an
external event.The largest readers might consist of a
desktop personal computer with a special card and multiple
antennas connected to the card through shielded cable.
Such a reader would typically have a network connection
as well so that it could report tags that it reads to other
computers. The smallest readers are the size of a postage
stamp and are
designed to be embedded in mobile telephones.
2. General Model for Heart Failure Alert
System:
Heart Failure Alert System using Rfid Technology
294
The Heart Failure Alert System consists of:
• RFID Tag (Implanted into Human body).
• RFID Reader (Placed in a Cellular Phone).
• Global Positioning Satellite System.
• Locating & Tracking Station.
• Mobile Rescue Units.
The grain-sized RFID Tag is implanted into the human
body,
which keeps track of the heart pulse in the form of Voltage
levels. A RFID Reader is placed into the Cellular Phone.
The
RFID Reader sends a Command to the RFID Tag which in
turn sends these Voltage pulses in the form of bits using the
Embedded Software in the Tag as Response which is a
continuous process. These bit sequence is then sent to
Software Program in the Cellular Phone as input and
checks for the Condition of Heart Failure. If any sign of
Failure is sensed then immediately an ALERT Signal will
be generated and in turn results in the AUTODIALING to
the Locating & Tracking Station. This station with the use
of GPS System comes to know the Whereabouts of the
Victim. The Locating & Tracking Station also
simultaneously alerts the Rescue Units.
3. Working of implanted rfid tags:
Passive RFID systems typically couple the transmitter
to the receiver with either load modulation or backscatter,
depending on whether the tags are operating in the near or
far field of the reader, respectively. In the near field, a tag
couples with a reader via electromagnetic inductance. The
antennas of both the reader and the tag are formed as coils,
using many turns of small gauge wire. The reader
communicates with the tag by modulating a carrier wave,
which it does by varying the amplitude, phase, or frequency
of the carrier, depending on the design of the RFID system
in question. The tag communicates with the reader by
varying how much it loads its antenna. This in turn affects
the voltage across the reader’s antenna. By switching the
load on and off rapidly, the tag can establish its
own carrier frequency (really a sub carrier) that the tag can
In turn modulate to communicate its reply.
Fig: Grain sized RFID Tag
RFID Tags are smaller than a grain of rice and equipped
with a tiny antenna will capture and wirelessly transmit a
person's vital body-function data, such as pulse and do not
require line of sight. These tags are capable of identifying
the Heart pulses in the form of Voltage levels and converts
into a bit sequence.
The first step in A-D Conversion is Pulse Amplitude
Modulation(PAM).This takes an Analog signal, samples it
and generates a sequence of pulses based on the results of
the Sampling(measuring the Amplitude at equal
intervals)PCM(Pulse Code Modulation)quantizes PAM
Pulses.ie the method of assigning integral values in a
specific range to sampled instances. The binary encoding of
these integral values is done based on the Algorithm
BIN_ENC
depending on the Average Heart pulse voltage of the
Victim
(Avg_pulse).
Alg BIN_ENC:
Step1: Read the Analog Signals from the Heart.
Step2: Sample the Analog Signal and generate series of
pulses based on the
Results of Sampling based on the Tag Frequency.
Step3: Assign Integral Values to each Sampled
Instances
generated.
Step4: Consider every Individual Sampled Unit and
Compare with the Average
Voltage Level of the Heart.
Step5: If the Sampled Instance Value is in between the
avg_pulse Values
Then Assign BIT=0
Otherwise Assign BIT=1
Step6: Generate the bit sequence by considering all the
generated Individual
Sample Instances.
International Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and
Informatics
295
Fig: Analog-Binary Digits Conversion in Tags
Working of rfid reader inside cellular phone:
The RFID reader sends a pulse of radio energy to the tag
and listens for the Tag’s response. The tag detects this
energy and sends back a response that contains the tag’s
serial number and possibly other information as well. In
simple RFID systems, the reader’s pulse of energy
functioned as an on-off switch; in more sophisticated
systems, the reader’s RF signal can contain commands to
the tag, instructions to read or write
memory that the tag contains. Historically, RFID readers
were designed to read only a particular kind of tag, RFID
readers are usually on, continually transmitting radio
energy and awaiting any tags that enter their field of
operation.
Fig: RFID Reader in cellular phone.
The Reader continuously sends the Command to the tags
and in turn receives the Voltage levels in the form of bit
sequence as Response from the tags with the help of the
BIN_ENC algorithm. The reader sends the received Bit
Sequence to a software embedded in the cellular phone , In
case of detection of a weak heart pulse this software
automatically alerts the Tracking & Location station . The
software uses the
Algorithm ALERT.
Alg ALERT:
Step 1: Read the bit sequence from the Reader.
Step 2: Count for the no of bit zeros in the data using
a counter.
Step 3: If you encounter a bit one, then set counter to
zero.
Step 4: If the counter is equal to five then go to Step 5
else go to Step 1.
Step 5: Send alert to the nearest Locating & Tracking
Station.
4. Stages In Heart Failure Alert System:
Stage 1:
The Tag continuously senses the Heart Pulses, when the
Reader sends a Command it sends the output of the
BIN_ENC() as the Response to the Reader.
/*Module for the Conversion of Analog Signals to
Binary
digits*/
BIN_ENC()
{
Scanf (“The Value of the generated Sample %f”, Value);
If (+Avg_pulse<Value<-Ang_pulse)
{Bit=0 ;}
else if (Value>+Avg_pulse || Value<-Avg_pulse)
{Bit=1 ;}
}
Stage 2:
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296
The bits obtained are sent to the ALERT() program to
check
whether the bit is ’BIT 0’ or ’BIT 1’.If a ‘BIT 0’ is
encountered, the counter is incremented and again it checks
for the next bit. If a ‘BIT 1’is encountered then counter is
set
to zero and it again checks for the next bit. If counter=5
then it
alerts the Locating & Tracking Station.
/*Module for checking the Weak Pulse */
ALERT ()
{
if (bit==0)
{ counter++; }
else
{counter=0 ;}
if(counter==5)
{
printf(“ Report ‘Weak Pulse Detected’ to Locating &
Tracking System”);
counter=0;
}
}
Stage 3:
A Special ALERT message is sent to the Locating &
Tracking System through the Cellular Phone by making use
of features like AutoMessaging, Autodialling which will be
provided by the Cellular Network Service Provider. Then
the Locating & Tracking Station simultaneously sends an
ALERT to the Mobile Rescue Unit and sends a request to
GPS System for the proper location of the RFID Reader (or
the Cellular Phone).The Locating & Tracking Station sends
an simultaneous ALERT to both the GPS System & Mobile
Rescue Unit in order to alert the Rescue team in the Mobile
Rescue Unit to indicate a possible Heart Failure within the
radius of the Unit. The GPS System mean-while tracks the
exact location of the Victim and it guides the Mobile
Rescue Unit to the destination in time and provides
immediate medical assistance to the Victim.
5. Conclusion:
This new technology will open up a new era in the
field of Biomedical Engineering .The only drawback of this
technology is that, It doesn’t give the promise of saving
every person who is implanted with the tag and using this
technology. In the near future; we would like to extend the
technology so that every customer who is implanted with
the tags and those who have been using the technology will
be saved. The Worlds first GSM phone (NOKIA
5140)offering with RFID reading capability has already
come into the market, In the near future the rfid readers
would come into the wrist watches, which would be handy
than the cellular phones.
This new technology would probably become cheaper in
the F uture. In the near future we hope this new technology
would etably reduce the deaths due to heart failures.
Fig: Nokia 5140 Handset offering RIFD Reader