IoT-Based Neonatal Incubator Monitoring System

Abstract

Neonatal incubators are essential in neonatology rooms and, as they are life support equipment, they require a maintenance frequency of at least every six months to guarantee their performance and safety. To analyze them, several devices exist designed to measure parameters such as temperature, humidity, and noise level inside the baby’s chamber. A complete analysis consists of 9 tests with a duration of 5 hours and 56 minutes overall. During this time, the workflow of the incubator is interrupted. The objective of this research is to develop an IoT-based prototype capable of monitoring the parameters inside the chamber; without stopping the operation of the equipment and that provides the security of not affecting the health of the premature baby. The IoT architecture was designed and the safety criteria for each component used to build the prototype were determined. Experimentation was used to perform tests in simulated environments and in a real environment. The results measured by the prototype were compared with those obtained by the certified measurement instrument Fluke INCU II. The values were compared using non-parametric statistic analysis to determine points for improvement.