Prognostics in wireless telecare networks: A perspective on serving the rural Chinese population

Wireless telecare has been widely used in many countries to take care of the well-being of people with special needs. Telecare finds itself in many applications ranging from improving personal health at home to responses to emergency situations. Fixed broadband wireless access (BWA) networks that operate in inhospitable outdoor environments demand stringent reliability assurance for data delivery in telecare. This paper reviews various factors that can severely impact the reliability of telecare networks in rural area deployment, and how prognostics can provide an optimal solution to ensuring network reliability. We describe the potential issues telecare deployment may face with reference to the China landscape and explores ways to move reliable telecare services across China´s rural areas.