devices are structured by using the EEML protocol and are handled by the Data Manipulation Module to be effectively
registered in a MySQL relational database by using the Java Persistence API (JPA) specifications implemented in the
Hibernate framework. Finally, the Security Module allows controlling user authenticity, confidentiality, and integrity
by using the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) specifications implemented in the JBoss server.
4. Application: Monitoring heartbeat rate and blood pressure
With the current habits of part of the population and the consequent increasing on the risk of cardiovascular diseases,
heartbeat rate and blood pressure have been important vital signs used to identify a variety of health problems
that may affect a patient. ECG sensors for measuring heartbeats have been one of the most commonly used medical
tests in modern medicine due to its utility in the diagnosis of several cardiac pathologies. On the other hand, monitoring
the blood pressure is important especially for hypertensive people, as high blood pressure can lead to serious
problems, such as heart attack. Therefore, a continuous monitoring of such variables is quite important as a heart
problem might not always show up on the ECG and high blood pressure usually does not have any symptoms. Moreover,
such a monitoring can enable prevention procedures by improving medical diagnosis, bring proactive responses
to possible emergency conditions, and even help to reduce the number of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases.
In this scenario, EcoHealth can be used to integrate cardiovascular-targeted devices and to monitor variables at
runtime, as well as to trigger alert messages in case of abnormal conditions. We have chosen to monitor heartbeats
and blood pressure of an individual, each measure registered at EcoHealth as feeds. In order to collect these measures,
we have used an ECG sensor with electrodes fixed on the patient’s chest and a blood pressure oscillometric sensor.
These sensors were connected with the Arduino Uno open platform17 coupled with a Cooking Hacks e-Health Sensor
shield18, which enables the integration of a variety of biometric sensors. In addition, we have developed an active
driver developed to Arduino Uno that collects data measured by the sensors and sends them to EcoHealth.
EcoHealth can process data obtained from the sensors and present them in an efficient, useful way to doctors.
Therefore, historical data regarding the measured heartbeat rate and blood pressure are displayed as a chart highlighting
changes along the day and drawing attention to important occurrences, as illustrated in the screenshot from
the EcoHealth Web interface shown in Fig. 3. Finally, triggers associated to these feeds can be created in order to
send alert messages to doctors when the measured heartbeats are greater than 160 BPM (beats per minute) and/or the
measured blood pressure is greater than 160/100 mmHg, thus indicating possible critical conditions for the patient.