Abstract
In the context of new emerging infectious diseases, it is more secure for old patients to be confined to their homes while still having medical assistance. Most existing facilities use Radio Frequency (RF) devices to monitor and measure vital signs of a patient and send them to appropriate medical services. But this technology can have bad side effects on patient’s health, especially those who have already chronic diseases. We propose an approach that uses only Light Fidelity (LiFi) technology. Our goal is to use the information about the position of the patient to track him/her so that rapid intervention can be made in critical situations. Initial experiments conducted on our system show that the patient can be tracked with precision. The real-time status of the person being monitored is reported to medical services so that he/she can be quickly rescued when needed.
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•We propose a new approach for monitoring vital signs of the health of a patient using the LiFi and IR technologies.•We periodically send the patient’s vital signs using only LiFi to avoid any possible harmful effects of RF devices.•We evaluate the performance of this new approach by using LiFi lamps fixed on known position in a room.•Tracked Object (Smartphone) is located in real time using the knowledge of LiFi lamp’s IDs.•Our research results contribute to the development of home care services for seniors so that they can maintain their independence and stay at home with no need to go to a health facility for assistance.