Technology for continuous long-term monitoring of pregnant women for safe childbirth

This research explores the Internet of Things and how it can be used to improve patient monitoring in modern healthcare to ensure the safety of pregnant women and their children. The concept of Internet of Things and connected healthcare will be put into context regarding improving the outcome of pregnancy for women with limited access to health care. Through our ongoing research project, we propose a system that can positively impact the standard of life for pregnant mothers. Modern day smartphones have proven to be extremely pervasive in developing regions of the world. Most of these smartphones are equipped with hardware that can support biometric monitoring of its user. By taking advantage of the sensors present on smartphones and an accessory biomedical signal acquisition device we intend to unobtrusively acquire vital information about the health status of pregnant women. The acquired data is then processed and classified using signal processing and analysis tools to assist healthcare practitioners evaluate the status of pregnant women remotely. Since most pregnant women in our area of focus already own smartphones, the cost associated with our system is minimal. We have successfully implemented remote heart rate monitoring and physical activity monitoring using a smartphone and an accessory device.