Unconfined E-healthcare system using UMTS-WLAN

Wireless communication in e-healthcare environments is a new and promising area, but there is no efficient wireless telemedicine system that can be used in a wide area network. This paper presents a wireless e-healthcare system that couples a UMTS 3G wireless network with a wireless local area network using UMTS-WLAN technology. The medical instruments collect the patient's medical data and send them to the medical centre through a UMTS-WLAN access point or through a WLAN-enabled UMTS user equipment point (i.e., UMTS cellular terminal). Patients can be almost anywhere and still receive real-time medical service. The simulation studies using OPNET show the performance of our wireless e-healthcare system.