Emergency m-Health Services through High-Speed 3G Systems: Simulation and Performance Evaluation

The present paper studies the prospective and the performance of a forthcoming high-speed third-generation (3G) networking technology called High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for delivering emergency m-health applications. The joint transmission of voice, real-time video, medical data such as electrocardiogram, vital signals, heart sound and file transfer is performed for both uplink and downlink. Various scenarios are involved in terms of emergency situations in random locations, where no other system but 3G is available. The accomplishment of quality of service (QoS) is explored through a step-by-step improvement of HSPA systems parameters, incorporating admission and congestion control elements and the use of prioritization for m-health services. HSPA managed to meet the requirements for emergency m-health scenarios and adequately served the generated load.