Quality of Service Support in Wireless Sensor Networks for
Emergency Healthcare Services
Oscar Gama1, Paulo Carvalho1, J. A. Afonso2
and P. M. Mendes2
Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar1
Departamento de Informática
P-4710-057 Braga, Portugal
E-mail: {osg,pmc} at di.uminho.pt
Universidade do Minho, Campus de Azurém2
Departamento de Electrónica Industrial
P-4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
E-mail: {jose.afonso,paulo.mendes} at dei.uminho.pt
Abstract
The reliable and efficient operation of emergency healthcare
(e-emergency) services poses quality demands to the systems and
underlying communication infrastructures. In this context, most
existing wireless body sensor networks fall short in meeting these
demands as they only offer an unreliable service delivery. e-Emergency
systems must provide quality of service (QoS) support so that a
pervasive and trustable assistance is provided to patients under health
risk. This paper discusses the need for QoS in wireless e-health and
e-emergency services. To demonstrate this need, some current and
relevant ehealth projects with QoS requirements are presented. The
study reveals the importance of providing QoS support in this emerging
field of application and provides a summary characterizing the e-health
proposals herein presented.
EMBC 2008, Vancouver, Canada,
2008