MATERIALS AND METHODS We propose a system architecture made up of three main components, represented in Figure 1:
(1) a wireless body area network of devices (WBAN), attached on elderly person or the chronic patient, based on low power microcontrollers and RF transceivers that perform the measurements of physiological signals;
(2) a user Personal Server, in form of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), running a monitoring application which receives the raw signals from wireless devices, performs a local signal processing, activates the alarms when the monitored parameters are above the limits, and communicates periodically to the monitoring center through the Internet by using WiFi or GSM/GPRS connection;
(3) a central medical server for management of database related to registered users, receives and stores the data received from the Personal Servers and is responsible for broadcasting medical records and alarms to the users (patient’s physician, healthcare specialist or ambulance center).