Multi-Biosensor based Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) for Critical Health Monitoring of Patients in Mental Health Care Centers: An Interdisciplinary Study

Abstract

A wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is a sensor network that is specifically designed to operate in an autonomous way to connect different medical sensors and appliances, inside as well as the human body. The network exists over the entire human body. The nodes present within the network are wirelessly connected to the server node or base station, and other IoT clients. There are numerous areas of applications of WBAN, like health care, medicine, multimedia, and sports, etc. The work reported to date include the design and development of WBAN to measure biological functions like temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, ECG, respiration, etc. Besides, it is important to focus on mental health care services. It involves patients who are mentally ill or are being treated in psychiatric hospitals/asylums for mental disorders. The hospitals are located mostly in remote areas, not having direct contact with cities. Different mental disorders like schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, and other types of mental illness are treated by admitting the patient in the hospital. The social awareness on mental illness needs serious attention for the human well-being. The progress in electronics and newly invented biosensors has transformed the modern mental health care systems. In this paper, we present a complete study of the mental health care and its importance for the human livelihood. Different biosensors for mental health monitoring have been surveyed and discussed. We further intend to design a WBAN prototype, which will help the mental health professionals to manage the patients, ensuring their safety, and preventing accidental deaths.