IoT and health monitoring wearable devices as enabling technologies for sustainable enhancement of life quality in smart environments

• Published in: Journal of cleaner production 2023-08, Vol.413, p.137506, Article 137506
• Main Authors: Zovko, Kristina, Šerić, Ljiljana, Perković, Toni, Belani, Hrvoje, Šolić, Petar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: case studies; economic valuation; elderly; forest fires; Health; health services; humans; Internet; IoT wallet; Machine learning; Monitoring; Non-invasive; patients; quality of life; SAREF ontology; Sensors; Smart environments; Sustainable; Wearable devices
• ISSN: 0959-6526; 1879-1786
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.137506

The Internet of Things (IoT) technology with wearable devices provides a promising solution that enables con-tinuous monitoring of health parameters. Non-invasive sensors enable remote health monitoring and improve many aspects of life quality. The study explores advances in IoT and Wearable Devices through a conceptualization of health monitoring observer networks. The paper proposes an architecture inspired by a formal description of human perception, which has been successfully employed in environmental monitoring and can be adapted to healthcare for better integration and comprehension of patient health data. The proposed architecture involves a three-layer ap-proach Sensors, Integration and Association and Application and Diagnostic, similar to the architecture used in forest fire monitoring. The Sensors layer describes state-of-the-art cutting-edge equipment and related sensors for gathering information. The second layer, Integration and Association propose an ontology and a potential solution for integrat-ing sensor information from the device to the cloud. Furthermore, the third layer, Application and Diagnostic gives a review of used machine learning algorithms for detecting and diagnosing various diseases. Finally, a case study of elderly health monitoring using wearable devices is presented, discussing the methodology for economic value calcu-lation to decrease the cost of efficient health management and improve quality of life. The use of a health monitoring observer network not only improves quality of life, but also reduces the cost of health monitoring, making it more sustainable for the general community. •An overview of wearable technologies along with their associated characteristics.•Using IoT ontologies is vital in healthcare and medicine to integrate and associate multiple sensors.•Application and diagnostic layer include the ML for predicting and early detecting diseases.•Economic sustainability through the implementation of wearable devices in healthcare.