Tapping TV white space spectrum for telemedicine applications in India
S. Mohandass, Govindaswamy Umamaheswari · International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices · 2016
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.