There are certain improvements that can be made in the future. There are a few limitations and gaps in the research work. The data that was used for the purpose of the research was gathered from a few hospitals and medical centres. There is broad application of IoT that is possible and the future research work shall focus on the increased amount of data for better analysis. From the security and privacy point of view, there is a lot of buzz around Blockchain. The use of the Blockchain technology shall be done with the IoT networks and systems to promote security and privacy. This is another area that shall be research upon in the future.
Lesson Learned
- The research projects comprise of various steps and activities. It is possible that some of these activities run in parallel and may overlap each other. It is, therefore, essential that the research plans and strategies are defined in advance. This will make sure that the suitable plans are developed and implemented so that the effective research can be conducted.
- It could be determined that communication plays a very important role in the research process and activities. The lack of communication during the research projects leads to massive gaps. I could learn that there must be communication management plan prepared in advance so that the project communications are streamlined. The presence of such communication plans will make sure that all the resources engaged in the research work are on the same page. The resolution of the issues will also be timely done with these plans in place.
- There are details and information that could be learnt about the selected research topic, that is, IoT devices in healthcare. IoT is being used in the healthcare sector and a number of IoT devices are in use. Some of these include the wearable devices, sensor devices, and many others (Park et al., 2018). It could be learnt that IoT can have multiple applications in the healthcare sector.
- The knowledge and understanding on the security and privacy issues around IoT could also be acquired. It could be learnt that there are a number of security and privacy attacks that may occur which can violate the information properties associated with the IoT devices. Therefore, it must be made sure that the IoT applications are kept protected and there is enhancement of security done at all times. The security and privacy tools that shall be used shall focus on the promotion of network security and information security. The use of the lightweight cryptography protocols and frameworks can also be used (Sharma, 2019).
The learnings around risk management could also be acquired. There were several risks and issues that emerged during the research work. The resolution of these issues could be done with the implementation of the defined risk management guidelines. I could learn that the risks shall be effectively managed and there shall be plans and strategies prepared in advance to deal with the risks.
Conclusion
The research study on the advanced IoT devices for healthcare sector provided the understanding of the various applications of IoT in the sector. The research could be completed in time and also provided the ability to determine the challenges associated with IoT in healthcare. The most prominent out of all are the security issues and privacy concerns. There are some of the techniques and mechanisms that can be adopted so that these issues are prevented and avoided. The use of network security controls and Cryptography shall be done so that the issues can be properly handled.
Results and Findings
The research could be successfully completed in the estimated timeframe and within the budget that was allocated to carry out the research activities. There are various outcomes that have been obtained as the results of the research work.
The research provided the use and application of the IoT technologies and devices for numerous stakeholders. The primary area of focus was the patients and the determination of the IoT devices for the patients could be done (Mavrogiorgou et al., 2019). One of the most significant applications of IoT for the patients and end-users is the wearable devices. There are numerous wearable devices, such as wearable bands and Smartwatches that have been developed. These bands and gadgets can be worn by the patients and the users to keep a track of their health signs, such as blood pressure, heart rate, pulse rate, etc. It is useful device as it provides the ability to self-monitor the health conditions. The IoT-based innovation is now being used by the people all across the globe. It could be determined that these wearable devices are causing positive impacts on the people. The easy tracking of the steps and the movements in a day enable the users to move around resulting in better health. The issues, such as obesity or muscular pains can be resolved with such movements. The IoT-based devices are also being used by the patients to be aware of their irregular health signs. The devices generate alerts that are assisting in the timely diagnosis (Alamri, 2018).
It could also be determined that the IoT devices are actively being used in the more severe health conditions. For example, the people suffering from cardiovascular diseases are using the IoT devices to monitor the heart rate and related signs. There are various sensors that are used in the IoT systems and these assist the patients and the medical professionals to effectively manage the health conditions. The assistive devices are being developed using the IoT devices. These assistive devices are of great importance for the elderly and the differently abled people. For example, people with Dementia can use the IoT-based assistive devices to help them in remembering the path to their respective homes while they go out for a walk. The family members are also assured of the patient safety. This leads to the boosting up of the morale of the patient as well (Inacio et al., 2020).
IoT devices are also being used in the hospitals and medical professionals for other purposes. There are different medical tools and equipment used in the hospitals. The installation of the IoT devices and sensors is done in such equipment for proper tracking. For example, the wheelchairs or oxygen pumps are frequently taken from one area of the hospital to the other as per the requirement. The use of IoT sensors can assist the medical staff to easily track the devices and utilize the same as per the need. The use of IoT-based health monitoring tools is assisting the medical professionals. There are certain health conditions that do not require the patients to repeatedly visit the hospital and medical centres. The medical professionals are obtaining the information from such tools and applications to advice the patients on the further medical steps and decisions.
The research provided the mechanism to understand the various benefits and applications of the IoT devices in the healthcare sector (Harsh, 2017). However, the exploration was also done to determine some of the challenges and issues that may be seen. The security and privacy concerns are identified as one of the primary issues. It could be determined that the IoT applications and devices are usually used with the other technologies, such as Big Data, Cloud Computing, and others. Also, the IoT devices and systems that are used in the healthcare sector or any other industrial sector are composed of numerous components and elements. There are varied properties associated with these components and this leads to the emergence of numerous security vulnerabilities. Due to the presence of several security vulnerabilities, it becomes difficult to control the security and privacy attacks.
The private health information of the patients is extremely confidential and critical in nature. The use of IoT in the health sector offers a wide range of benefits; however, the exposure of the private health information of the patients can result in major obligations for the hospital or medical firms (Ahmed et al., 2018).
The research provided the ability to determine some of the control techniques and countermeasures that could be adopted so that the security and privacy concerns were avoided and mitigated. The use of lightweight Cryptography and advanced network security tools are determined as some of the techniques.
There are some other issues that are also determined with the use and implementation of IoT in health sector. The high costs of implementation and the technical compatibility and configuration issues are also witnessed.
Final Report
Introduction:
The research was conducted on the topic as Advanced IoT Devices for Healthcare Sector. Internet of Things (IoT) is the emerging technology and is being extensively researched. This is because of a large number of opportunities and potential that is associated with the IoT technologies. The use of the technology is being done in several sectors. Healthcare is the sector that was focussed upon the research work (Prabhakaran & Balamurugan, 2019).
The research was conducted to understand the applications and use of some of the advanced IoT devices and also explored the various issues and challenges that are associated in the process.
Gantt Chart
Deliverables
The internet of things has the ability to transform the regular paper-based treatments into the real time or remote monitoring of the patients. The advent of this new medical technology is the need for improved therapeutic tools and diagnosis. This does not stop here it offers doctors to track patients and trackers for athletes with the dosing alerts. Effective application of IoT for remote monitoring of patients with diabetes or asthma. Combined with wellness devices and high penetration of fitness. There are always some improvements to make in everything some of them are:
- Real time and reliable communication between doctors and patients
- More Services with portability should be introduced
- Virtualization instead of paper-based method should be promoted and carried out
- Data hosted and accountability services must be imposed through the borders
- Medical assistance should be carried out remotely
- Computer or smart vision technology should be enhanced to carry out the surgeries
- Automatic charting in health care
Risk Analyzation
As IoT is changing the future of medical sector it is obvious that it also comes up with some drawbacks. The security and ethical issues are the problems that needs to be addressed. Aspects related to the information knowledge and data are shared and transmitted through IoT, allowing people involved in these new medical technologies to make them aware of such ethical faults. To ensure the safety towards ethical challenges in IoT it requires:
- Ensuring access of the information
- Enforcing private life rights
- Ensuring the transparency of the information
- Ensuring the quality of the information received
Data analytics
The research method shows the process by which it is done. It is logical which would allow research to get advanced in a structured way. This research would be qualitative and in this process all the analysis will be carried out on the basis of the information collected form the articles and journals. This approach is theoretical for the analyzation of the data. The qualitative analyzation of the data is carried out in this research. Reason to choose this analysis is that this research will allow us reviewing which can later then examine the various topics discussed earlier. Because this research is review based, this research will use the secondary data. This research provides us some advantages combined with IoT and cloud that allow us to keep an eye on the issues arose out of it. Identification and privacy of the data is the real challenge for IoT in the health and medical sector.
Redefining Framework
The enhancement of health care specifically healthcare services expands huge opportunities. Moreover, the large amount of data transferred by the devices has the caliber to change or transform the healthcare sector. There are four basic stages in architectural process.
Step 1: This step will pursue the installation of the connected devices which includes monitors, camera system, sensors etc. and data will be collected by these devices.
Step 2: Generally, data obtained from the devices and sensors comes up in the form of analog. These forms then converted and aggregated into digital form for the further processing of data.
Step 3: After the aggregation and digitization, it will be transferred, pre-processed and standardized to the cloud service or data center.
Step 4: The final data would be then analyzed and handled to the suitable level. Professional analyzers will go through the data this can enhance the successful decision making.