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dangerous as the laser beam may accidentally fall onto a per- sons eye. In the case of infants, high body temperature must not
be neglected as it can cause permanent disabilities if proper treatment is not given promptly. Fever is caused as a human
body response to infection Cranston, 1975, milton 1982, dinarello 1984. Sometimes, parents that are over-protecting
their children by making them wear too many clothes can cause temperature elevation to their babies. Technology can assist
parents in monitoring their new-born baby by using a small heat sensing camera. The camera can be set to trigger the alarm if the
body temperature of the baby exceeds 38 Celsius. An automati- cally alert will be sent to the medical staff if the temperature
reaches 39 Celsius, signaling that the baby needs immediate medical attention. Such example shows that telemedicine sys-
tem can be integrated with a simple thermometer to improve healthcare monitoring. Compared to the conventional mercury
thermometer, advances in technology enable extra features such as automated updating of patient’s record and alert signals if the
temperature exceeds a certain threshold. The pattern of tempera- ture variation can determine the cause which requires medical
treatment. Hereafter, details of various methods of measurement methods which vary in terms of precision, speed and ease of
operation are optimized for particular applications and sur- roundings.
4.1.2 Rate of Heart Normal range at rest: 60-100 bpm
The heart beat measurement and analysis can be utilized in many ways. Its uses can range from addressing life-threatening
conditions such heart failure to general evaluation of fitness in a gymnasium as discussed earlier in section 3.5. Heart rate is un-
like body temperature as the daily heart beat pattern of a human body shows a certain level of circadian rhythm as can be seen in
Figure 4.3. Dismissing heavy activities, the heart rate is most likely to be 30 higher during the day time compared to when
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sleeping at night. The exact measurement would be around 70 beats per minute bpm where its range is at least 52 and at most
82 bpm. The unit bpm represents number of beats per mi- nute. Also, female subjects have 5 faster hear beat than male
subjects under similar situations. The more mobile a person is, the more blood is pumped throughout the body. Sudden impuls-
es resulting from strenuous activities during the day or night- mares during sleep can be eliminated by taking readings once
every two hours. Compared to body temperature, the measure- ment of heart rate is less prone to environmental variables.
Figure 4.3 Circadian rhythm of heart beat
FONG et al 2011 Theoretically, the Circadian rhythm can be obtained from any
part of the body that has an artery near the skin. The method of counting circadian rhythm is to count the number of pulse per
minute. Usually, the measurement is taken at wrist and neck. Apart from that, some gym equipment targets the elbow for eas-
ier measurement during a workout. Some equipment in the gym are often equipped with heart rate sensor as shown in Figure
4.4. However, these designs are not flexible enough as we need to hold on to the sensor tightly in order to get the heart rate
while doing exercise. This type of sensor has 2 limitations
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namely restriction of movement while gripping the handle and running and the inability to keep track of health condition in-
stantaneous reading may not relay much important information about health state. In order to overcome these problems, an
electrical indicator is impelled through the heart muscle throughout compression as the heart beat. A reliable transmitter
which can pick up the signal is placed at the 3 aforementioned body sites. With this deployment, the transmitter can send elec-
tromagnetic signal to receiver that calculate the time and then displays it in the form of number of beats per minute. Accord-
ing to research, the maximum rate of heart beat of a person de- creases by 1 bpm for every increase in age by one year.
Technology ensures a safe workout as the user can set the gadg- et to alert him or her to slow down when the heart beats reach a
particular predetermined level. Machines that are designed for elder people should not include measurements at the neck as it
may cause light-headedness due to inappropriate exertion of force. For babies that are less than one year old, the heart rate is
normally higher. Therefore, the type of application varies for different areas.
Figure 4.4 Heart rate sensors FONG et al 2011
Telemedicine technology should aid in providing necessary treatment when a sudden change of heart beat pattern may re-
quire medical attention. There are a number of causes of heart
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beat deviation including hypothyroidism. Other than that, it can also be influenced by medication that can lower down the heart
rate. In contrast, the heart rate is increased by exercise, stress, caffeine and alcohol. The automated system shown in Figure
4.5 clearly shows that an elderly individual who lives alone can be monitored from time to time. This form of monitoring is very
easy to install as it consists of a small pulse counter that is placed behind a wrist watch that can continuously monitor us-
ers heart rate when worn. If the heart rate reaches certain level, it will send an alert to the corresponding centre to request for
immediate medical attention. Before the medical team approach the users location, they will first try to telephone the user to
check whether the user is carrying out his or her routine activi- ties. An unanswered call definitely needs immediate attention. It
is vital to ensure that the threshold set has sufficient capabilities to reduce the chances of a false alarm, while at the same time
ensuring that any serious problem will not be left undetected. Nevertheless, it is difficult to detect a weak pulse. A weak pulse
can be due to a blood clot or heart disease which may lead to fatal. Therefore, it is very important to develop more method to
measure heart beat for detecting palpitations. Besides that, the ECGEEG that discussed in section 4.2 can be utilized to
measure heart beat which can provide precise measurement and indication of the rhythm which co-relates to pattern and the
strength. This information is useful when we use it to detect symptom of heart disease and abnormal blood vessels. Howev-
er, just counting the number of beats per minute is not enough to determine whether there is a blockage of blood vessels. Palpi-
tations might be unending or intense with shifting outcomes and each of them has diverse prerequisites for detection. Therefore,
more advanced methods of analyzing heart beats are required.
Sometimes, the medical history of a patient can reveal a forth- coming problem. Additionally, in some circumstances a chemi-
cal analysis might be included for example when recognizing
