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A Smartphone-Centric Platform for Personal Health
Monitoring using Wireless Wearable Biosensors

Stephen Chiu Kwok LAM1,2, Kai Lap WONG2, Kwok On WONG2, Wenxiu WONG1, Wai Ho MOW1,2
1 Wireless IC System Design Center, HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School, Nansha, China
2 Dept. of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

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Abstract—

The body area sensor network is widely regarded
a key technology that holds promise of enabling low-cost
healthcare to be accessible to the fast growing aging sector of the
population. The popularity of smartphones with their open
operating systems provides a powerful platform for developing
very low-cost personalized healthcare applications. In addition to
the requirement of low cost, the limited battery life and the
implementation of bio-signal processing software in resourceconstrained
smartphone platforms are two practical challenges.
In this work, we present the design and implementation
considerations of such a smartphone-centered platform for lowcost
continuous health monitoring based on commercial-off-theshelf
wireless wearable biosensors, which are anticipated to
proliferate in the market in the near future. As a case study, this
platform approach has been implemented utilizing
photoplethysmographic biosensors and different smartphones to
measure heart rate, breathing rate, oxygen saturation, and
estimate obstructive sleep apnea. The two aforementioned
practical challenges have been addressed in detail from a systemlevel
design perspective. The case study result confirms the many
advantages of the suggested system, including the closed loop
control capability, portability and upgradability