**1. Introduction**

The increasing average age of people and the consequent rise of chronic diseases will result in a growth in the need for assistance and healthcare within the coming years. Nevertheless, this is not the only challenge that developed countries face regarding healthcare services. There is an increasing demand for outpatient care accessibility, maintaining and restoring health, as well as maximizing the independence of patients [1], [2].

While the broader field of telemedicine and/or telehealth has been used in various forms for many years, Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems in Telemedicine are a relatively recent innovation [3] and an emerging area of interest to service providers and consumers [4]. Smart environment is a rapidly evolving domain focused on providing personal care settings with the primary intent of supporting the patient rather than office visits with health professionals. AAL is used in a wide sense and encompasses the use of audio, video and other telecommu‐ nication technologies to evaluate patient status at a distance [5], [6]. Remote healthcare monitoring systems could aid in reducing costs and alleviating the shortage of healthcare personnel [1].

Additionally, the Internet has experienced a large growth over the past three decades, evolving from a network of a few hundred hosts to a platform linking billions of "things" globally [7]. The growth of the Internet shows no signs of slowing down and it has steadily become the cause of a new pervasive paradigm in computing and communications. This new paradigm enhances the traditional Internet into a smart Internet of Things (IoT) created around intelligent interconnections of diverse objects in the physical world. This approach enriches the AAL environment and offers new possibilities for healthcare [2].

© 2013 de Miguel-Bilbao et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2013 de Miguel-Bilbao et al.; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wireless connectivity is a feature of IoT, and is becoming increasingly used in AAL systems with intensive use of Short Range Devices (SRD) such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Ultra Wide Band (UWB), Near Field Communications (NFC), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Bluetooth, ZigBee, telealarm buttons (social alarms) or domotic devices. These systems involve sensors, computing and communication devices working in increas‐ ingly dense electromagnetic environments. One emerging approach to improve the wearabil‐ ity of continuous ambulatory monitoring systems is to improve body-attached sensors with built-in wireless telemetry, thus freeing the user from having to carry a data recorder.

original wired and wireless communication. These advances have already led to the develop‐ ment of new small-sized wireless medical and environmental sensors that are capable of monitoring the human body as well at its environment in a more efficient way. These advances in sensing, communication technologies and in software engineering make it possible to build new solutions for wearable healthcare systems and ubiquitous healthcare smart homes. With these systems, elderly people and those with pre-existing health conditions can remain in their own home, while healthcare providers can remotely monitor and advise them to improve their

Short Range Technologies for Ambient Assisted Living Systems in Telemedicine: New Healthcare Environments

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Over the last few years, the number of short range systems has increased in residential environments. These systems provide a great variety of emerging applications such as tracking and mobile telecare and welfare, with the possibility of the inclusion of many types of conventional alarms (gas, smoke, flood, etc...). Short Range technologies provide direct benefits when applied to a healthcare environment. The main objective of these SRD is to communicate emergency situations due to domestic accidents or health emergencies. These are low-cost information gathering and dissemination devices and facilitate fast-paced interactions among objects themselves (vehicles, cell phones, habitats, habitat occupants), as well as the objects and people in any place and at any time [11]. The special implication of these devices with welfare and safety requirements involves a special interest in its operating conditions as well

With the rapid advances in increasing computational performance while allowing for ever smaller integration sizes, on-body networks of wirelessly connected computing devices is becoming a reality. The vision of ubiquitous health (U-Health) care is addressed by this Body Area Network (BAN) and Body Sensor Network (BSN) technology [12]. As is shown in Figure 1, a network of interconnected Wireless Sensor Nodes (WSNs) in or around the body monitors a range of biomedical signals to assist in the detection and diagnosis of health - related

In the emergent IoT approach, a wide range of SRD is used. Smart applications and services to cope with many of the challenges individuals and organizations face in their everyday lives, such as environmental and personal health remote monitoring systems. These applications would change the way societies and especially our healthcare system function and thus would have a big impact on many aspects of people's lives in the years to come. IoT is not a mere extension of today's Internet or Internet system. It represents intelligent end-to-end systems that enable smart solutions, and, as such, covers a diverse range of technologies, including sensing, communications, networking, computing, information processing, and intelligent control technologies. Furthermore, technical advances in miniaturization and wireless communications have enabled applications of wireless sensing and biomonitoring, using devices that are now available for general use by healthcare professionals, patients and

These solutions could significantly reduce the cost of welfare systems while maintaining existing hospitals and dedicated centers for people who cannot benefit from these Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions. U-Health Smart Home, a home equipped with ICT to support people directly in their homes, has been identified by governments and

well being and provide them with quality healthcare.

as in promoting correct habits of usage.

problems.

caregivers [7], [9].

For these telemetry systems, it is likely that a large number of wireless links coexist in the same area sharing the electromagnetic (EM) environment [8]. Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) are present everywhere in our environment and will continue to increase. In this way, our environment will be surrounded by multiple mobile and stationary devices, communicating wirelessly, and working together. The level and frequency pattern of that exposure is contin‐ uously changing as technological innovation advances. Exposure to the general public cannot be avoided, since various devices emitting low-level EMF are almost omnipresent in the environment, including wearable devices attached to clothes or directly to the body. Electro‐ magnetic Interference (EMI) can be a serious problem for any electronic device, but working with medical devices can have life-threatening consequences. Practical commercial deploy‐ ment of these wireless networks requires measurements of the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), as a guarantee of lack of interferences 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
