Considerations and evaluation of a mobile telemedicine system with broadband wireless access network in tropical regions

This work evaluates the system performance of a broadband wireless access (BWA) network supporting telemedicine services that provides a framework for information exchange between the hospital and an ambulance attending an emergency. Various consideration factors are outlined for operation in a tropical region and it is found that a network utilizing orthogonally polarized signals provides acceptable performance metrics with a minimum 99.9999% availability irrespective of environmental conditions. A practical evaluation in transmitting and receiving images of the accident scene and database retrieval of patients´ record using a BWA system operating at 10 GHz with continuous phase modulation with a minimum data rate of 40 Mbps. Mobile receiver simulating an ambulance returning to the hospital provides measurement results for evaluation of system operational performance under the influence of tropical rainfall since persistent heavy rainfall can severely affect operations of outdoor wireless systems