Wireless transmission design for health monitoring at neonatal intensive care units

Health monitoring is crucial for the survival of the ill and fragile infants admitted at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in a hospital. However, the adhesive electrodes and wires cause discomfort to the patients and hamper the parent-child interaction. In this paper, we propose the application of wireless transmission technology for neonatal monitoring at NICU. To demonstrate the design concept, a prototype wireless transmission system is built using BlueSMiRF and Arduino pro mini. Software is developed for ensure the correct data transmission, detection and display. The system is designed to be suitable for integration into a non-invasive monitoring platform such as a smart neonatal jacket. Experimental results show that the prototype system successfully transmits and receives data from multiple sensors within the range of 20 m.