3G and 4G Mobile Communication in Telemedicine

Literature SurveyEmerging mobile communication technologies for healthThe advances and convergence of information technology and communication technologies are leading to the emergence of a new type of information infrastructure that has the potential of supporting an array of advanced services for health care. Telemedicine is delivery of health care information across distances using telecom technologies like video-conferencing, Internet or a video/image transmission where a patient residing in remote area can get medical treatment from specialist doctors.Mobile telemedicine is a new research area that exploits recent advances in mobile communication technologies providing the potential for highly flexible medical services that are not possible with standard telephony. Telemedicine systems based on wireless technologies can effectively provide health care services in understaffed areas like rural health centers, ambulance vehicles, ships, trains, airplanes and patient's homes.In recent years, the main wireless technologies that have been used in wireless telemedicine are: - GSM, GPRS, satellite systems, 3G systems, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth and WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) based systems . 4G systems and advances in medical sensor technologies are expected to make healthcare delivery more effective. These technological advances have enabled the introduction of a broad range of telemedicine applications, such as Tele-radiology, Tele-consultation, Tele-surgery, remote-patient monitoring and health care record management that are supported by computer networks and wireless communication. In a developing country like India, there is huge inequality in health-care distribution. With majority of our population living in rural area and majority of specialized doctors catering to the urban population, telemedicine remains the only solution for improved health care at reduced cost and improved access. Mobile Telemedicine SystemTelemedicine System consists of an interface between hardware, software and communication channel to eventually bridge two geographical locations to exchange medical information between two locations. The hardware consists of computer, printer, scanner, video conferencing equipment etc. The software enables the acquisition of patient information (images, reports, films etc.)Mobile telemedicine is a new research area that exploits recent advances in mobile telecommunications technologies having the potential for highly flexible medical services that are not possible with standard telephony. Nowadays, modern wireless communications technologies like GSM, GPRS, satellite, Wireless LAN, mobile IP, and 3G system standards allow the operation of mobile telemedicine system, freeing the medical personnel and/or the subject monitored bound to a fixed location. Today's, Telemedicine systems are supported by state of the art Technologies like Interactive video, high resolution monitors, high speed computer networks and switching systems and telecommunication super highways including fiber optic, satellites, and cellular telephony. The recent developments in digital mobile telephonic technologies (and their impact on mobility issues in different telemedical and telecare applications) are closely reflected in the fast growing commercial domain of mobile telemedicine services. Current examples include mobile ECG transmission, Video images and Tale-radiology, mobile ambulance services for emergency medical care and other telemedical monitoring systems.Ambulances, rural health centers (RHC), incidents occurring in backward areas or remote health locations such as ships navigating in wide seas and airplanes are common examples of possible emergency sites, while critical care telemetry and telemedicine home follow-ups are important issues of telemonitoring. In order to meet the growing healthcare demands it is required to combine the real-time and store and forward facilities that consists of a base unit and a telemedicine unit where this integrated system performs the following tasks: - Handles emergency cases in ambulances, RHC or ships by using telemedicine unit at the emergency site and the expert's medical consultation at the base unit; Enhances intensive health care provision by providing the telemedicine unit to doctor while the base unit is incorporated with the ICU's in- house telemetry system. Enables home telemonitoring by installing the telemedicine unit at the patient's home while the base unit remains at the physician's office or hospital.Emerging Mobile Communication Technologies in TelemedicineIn recent years, there has been increased research on wireless telemedicine using current mobile communication systems especially in USA and Europe. The limited bandwidth of the current generation of cellular telecommunication systems has restricted the wider use of these systems within the most promising segments of the health care structures in general. The concept of including high-speed data and multimedia services is emerging as one of the main points of the future telecommunication and multimedia priorities with the relevant benefits to health care systems. The new wireless technologies will allow the physicians and non-critical patients to roam freely, while maintaining the critical medical information. Some of the emerging wireless technologies to be used in wireless telemedicine are discussed below in brief.A. GSM and GPRS SystemsGSM provides data transfer speeds up to 9.6 kbps or up to 43.3 kbps when HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data) is used. The theoretical maximum downlink data rate for GPRS is 171.2 kbps (assuming coding scheme 4 and simultaneous utilization of eight time slots).

GPRS technology is packet-based and designed to work in parallel with the second-generation TDMA systems such as GSM, PDC (Personal Digital Cellular)that are used for voice communications. GPRS uses a multiple of the one of the eight radio channel time slots in the 200 kHz frequency band allocated for a carrier frequency to enable data speed of up to 115 kbps. The data are packetized and transported over public land mobile networks (PLMN) using an IP backbone so that mobile users can access services on the Internet, such as SMTP/POP- based e-mail, ftp, and HTTP-based web services.EDGE technology is a standard that has been specified to enhance the throughput per time slot for both HSCSD and GPRS. The enhancement of HSCSD is called ECSD, whereas the enhancement of GPRS is called EGPRS. In ECSD, the maximum data rate per time slot will triple and the peak throughput will exceed 384 kbps.Most of the telemedicine applications using GSM/GPRS networks concern the transmission of bio-signals and images in order to support pre-hospital treatments.B. Third Generation (3G) Wireless NetworksThe evolution of mobile telecommunication systems from second generation (2G) to 2.5 G and 3G (W-CDMA, CDMA-2000, TD-CDMA) systems will be able to provide much faster data transfer rates thus enabling the design and development of more effective mobile telemedicine systems.1. A data rate of 144kbps for users in high-speed motor vehicles over large areas and data rates of 384 kbps for slow-moving objects and persons over small areas. These data rates will be large enough for medical data and image transmissions in these scenarios.2. Phased in support for 2.084 Mbps operation for office use. These large rates will provide for laptop telemedicine with mobile multimedia applications.Transmission of bandwidth-hungry medical data such as images or real-time video over limited and fluctuant 3G link is challenging issue. The telemedicine system must manage this data and perform necessary transformations to ensure the smooth transmission through the low-speed and fluctuant 3G link.C. Fourth-Generation (4G) VisionIt is expected that 4G will integrate existing wireless technologies including UMTS, GSM, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Ultra wide band and other newly developed technologies into a seamless system. Some expected key features of 4G networks can be summarized as follows:1. High usability 4G networks are all IP-based heterogeneous networks that allow user to access a wide range of application services provided by multiple wireless networks.2. Support for high speed multimedia services at low transmission cost.3. Personalized services and Integrated applications.The main technological characteristics of 4G systems are expected to be as follows:1. Transmission speed higher than in 3G(min 50100 Mbps, average 200 Mbps);2. System capacity larger than in 3G by ten times;3. Transmission cost per bit 1/10 to 1/100 of that of 3G;4. Support for internet protocols (IPv6);5. Various quality of service (QoS) providing many kinds of multimedia services corresponding to users demand;6. User friendly services with very fast access.4G technology will support the development of new and effective medical care delivery systems into the 21st century. The new wireless technologies will allow both physicians and non-critical patients to roam freely, while maintaining access to critical patient data and medical knowledge.D. IEEE 802.16/WiMAX systemsThe emerging IEEE 802.16x Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) technology WiMAX (World wide interoperability for Microwave Access) allows interoperability and combines the benefits that other wireless technologies and leads a path towards 4G wireless technology in the future. The WiMAX/IEEE 802.16 operates on both the unlicensed and licensed bands between 2GHz and 66 GHz. The maximum throughput expected for WiMAX is 70 Mbps. WiMAX can achieve a maximum range of up to 50 km. Due to these specific features it is considered a suitable candidate for high-speed telemedicine services particularly in rural and developing areas where broadband connectivity is unavailable. Main reasons for using WiMAX over WLAN for telemedicine applications such as patient monitoring are: Broadband access to both fixed and mobile networks; high bandwidth for quality image transfer; good quality video-conferencing between a physician and a patient; MAC layer security features for WiMAX for access control and encryption functions.E. Satellite systemsThe satellite communication system offers a number of advantages including: -1. Wide geographic coverage including the interconnection of remote terrestrial network (islands).2. Bandwidth on demand, or Demand Assignment Multiple Access (DAMA) capabilities.3. An alternative to damaged fiber-optic network for disaster recovery options.4. Multipoint-to-multipoint communication facilitated by Internet and broadcasting capabilities of satellites.Satellite systems are able to provide a variety of data transfer rates starting from 2.4 kbps and moving to high speed data rates up to 2x 64kbps, and even more. Satellite links also have the advantage of operating all over the world.F. WAP- Based Telemedicine SystemA current trend in telecommunication is the convergence of wireless communication and computer network technologies and the emergence of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) devices. Since WAP will also be a common feature found in future mobile communication devices, it is worthwhile to investigate its use in telemedicine.The merging of the Internet and mobile computing is promoting the development of handheld devices, wireless infrastructures, application programming languages and protocols, all aiming to provide mobile Internet access. Among these is the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), a communication protocol and application environment for the deployment of information resources, advanced telephony services, and Internet access from mobile devices. Typical applications of WAP include news, games, e-banking, e-shopping and e-mail. A WAP-based telemedicine system has been developed with the aim to utilize WAP devices as mobile access terminals for general inquiry in store-and forward mode.

G. Wireless IP for TelemedicineWireless and IP-based telecommunication networks will significantly enhance the current methodologies of telemedicine and tele-care systems that are not possible with conventional telephony. IP telephony, known as voice over IP (VoIP), promises to deliver real time, two way synchronous voice and data traffic over packet-switched IP based networks. Supporting telephony services over IP network is considered a promising trend in the telecommunications business. It has been increasingly used as alternatives to the traditional circuit-switched networks for carrying voice traffic. IP-based networks represent the future trends towards convergence of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), mobile network, fixed wireless and the Internet in the communication industry. With the second-generation mobile networks shifting to IP platforms, evolving 3G systems, IP appears to have emerged as the unifying platform for all forms of communications. Because IP technology uses network capacity more efficiently, it has the potential to provide reduced cost, greater flexibility, and better manageability and enhanced services. The IP telephony technology can be extended to create limitless possibilities for the transmission of voice alone, or in combination with any other digitizable information. These features are essential for telemedicine to deliver integrated multimedia medical information to the underserved population or any other people in need.H. Wireless LANWireless LAN (WLAN), Bluetooth and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) are implemented as an extension to or as an alternative for wired LAN to make the communication more flexible and powerful. Wireless LAN is effectively Ethernet without wires. It allows users to access a data networks like the Internet at high speed of up to 11 megabits per seconds (Mbps) as long as users are located within a relative short range (typically 3050 meters indoors and 100500 meters outdoors) of a WLAN base station. Wireless LAN connectivity is mostly required to connect and facilitate diagnostic data exchange between various telemedicine systems inside a hospital through wireless. This link provides very high-speed data exchange capability between two systems. The wireless LAN feature is helpful for mobility in a hospital campus. WLAN enabled hand- held terminals will make the access to the information available at any place, any time.I. Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN)WPANs are defined with IEEE standard 802.15. The most relevant enabling technologies for mobile-Health system are Bluetooth and ZigBee.Bluetooth is a wireless technology that enables any electrical device to communicate in the 2.5 GHz ISM (license free) frequency band. It allows devices such as mobile phones, headsets, PDAs and portable computers to communicate and send data to each other without the need for wires or cable to link any two devices together. It has been specifically designed as a low-cost, low size, and low power radio technology, which is particularly suited to the short range personal area network (PAN) application. That is what distinguishes it from the wireless LAN technology. The main features of Bluetooth are: -1. Operates in 2.4 GHz frequency band without license for wireless communication.2. Real-time data transfer usually possible between 10 to 100 meters.3. Close proximity not required as with infrared data (IrDA) communication devices since Bluetooth does not suffer from obstacles such as walls.4. Supports both point to- point wireless communications without cables between mobile phones and personal computers as well as point-to-multipoint connections to enable adhoc local wireless networks.5. 400 kbps of data transmission rate symmetrically or 700 to 150 kbps of data rate asymmetrically.ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4 standard) has been developed as a low data rate solution with very long battery life and very low complexity. It is intended to operate in an unlicensed international frequency band. The standard uses 16 channels at 2.4 GHz, ten channels at 902928 MHz, and one channel at 868870 MHz. The maximum data rates for each band are 250, 40 and 20 kbps respectively.J. Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN)Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) of intelligent medical sensors present an emerging technology which can offer health-care services far beyond what the traditional telemedical systems can possibly provide. Wireless Intelligent sensors (WISE) perform data acquisition and limited processing. A typical WBAN consists of a number of inexpensive, lightweight and miniature sensor platforms, each featuring one or more physiological sensor, e.g. Motion sensor, ECGs, EMGs and EEGs. The sensor could be located on the body as tiny intelligent patches, integrated into clothing or implanted below the skin or muscles.All messages from sensors are collected by the Network controller and processed on a personal server. A personal server application can run on a PDA, mobile phone or PC. Network controller could be an add-on device or integrated into the personal server.WBAN based m-Health technologies have great potential for continuous monitoring in ambulatory settings, early detection of abnormal conditions, and supervised rehabilitation.

3G and 4G in Telemedicine

Mobile phones are the backbone of mobile communications and have experienced explosive growth. Generations of mobile phone are divided into four as of today based on communication system between base stations.First-generation (1G) mobile phone is the analogue mobile phone using FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access) system. Originally this was introduced as a phone for the automobile in the 1980s. It was heavy but could carry in any case. The service of first generation mobile phone was already terminated in some countries.In second-generation (2G) mobile phone, communication was digitalized and TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) system was adopted. Usability of radio wave was dramatically improved. Light weight and cost effective mobile phones are rapidly developed, so that the number of mobile phones is propagated late 1990s. Time when 2G mobile phones are penetrated into the world is the time when the carriers are strongly promoting sales of mobile phones. They tried to gain profit by making people use the phones but not selling the equipment itself. During that period, so-called one-yen phones were sold. There are two types of systems for 2G communication system; one is PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) adopted by NTT DoCoMo and J-phone, the other is GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) widely used in European countries. 2G technology is currently matured. PHS (Personal Handy Phone) also is included in second-generation communication system.In 1998, au began to provide cdma One service using CDMA system, which was called 2.5G service following the 2G mobile phone service. Also many European mobile phone carriers started GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) service which enables them to use high-speed transmission at about 115 kbps in the network of GSM system. This service put importance into data transmission rather than communication.Third-Generation (3G) mobile phone is a digital mobile phone based on the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) IMT-2000 standard. Basically CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) system is used and various kinds of services were also provided by using high-speed data transmission and multimedia. NTT started the first experimental 3G service FOMA (Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access) adopting W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) in May, 2001 and real introduction of FOMA into the market was made in October, 2001.Since the 3G mobile phone adopts CDMA system, noise and cutoff in communication is reduced, and high-speed data transmission can be done at the rate of 384 kbps at the most which was not acquired in 2G mobile phones.4G, short for fourth generation, is the fourth generation of mobile telecommunications technology, succeeding 3G. A 4G system, in addition to the usual voice and other services of 3G, provides mobile broadband Internet access, for example to laptops with wireless modems, to smartphones, and to other mobile devices. Potential and current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, 3D television, and cloud computing.Two 4G candidate systems are commercially deployed: the Mobile WiMAX standard (first used in South Korea in 2007), and the first-release Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard (in Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden since 2009). It has however been debated if these first-release versions should be considered to be 4G or not.Applications Third-generation mobile phones are expected to be extremely popular and fuel further replacement demand. Telecommunication firms all over the world are preparing to deploy third-generation networks. 3G mobiles provide a next generation mobile phone service that aims to offer high-speed 2Mb/s communication using high transmission efficiency in the high frequency 2GHz band. This will allow multimedia communication (such as animated images), a typical example of which is viewing TV on a mobile phone. This offers a groundbreaking way to use mobile phones. Major mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, etc. begin to introduce W-CDMA/GSM dual mode phone into the market as a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) standard. In some countries, Vodafone introduced dual mode UMTS phones made by Nokia, Motorola, and SEMC. This is the first time in the history that of the phone targeted for global business is introduced into the domestic market since its digitalization. It is predicted that entry of overseas mobile phone manufacturers will change the domestic market share in some countries.3G in overseas were only seen in the specific area such as South Korea and Hong Kong and the service began in Europe at the beginning of 2004. In October 2000, South Korea's SK Telecom launched the world's first commercial IMT -2000 3G service using CDMA2000 IX. NTT DoCoMo of Japan launched one year later, based on W-CDMA. SK Telecom was the first again with CDMA2000 1xEV-DO in January 2002, offering wireless access to multimedia content at broadband speeds. In addition to increasing capacity for more users, 3G services deliver fast and secure wireless connections to the Internet and exciting new data applications for mobile devices. These applications and services include position location and mapping, audio and video content, application downloading over the airwaves-multimedia messaging, video conferencing, multi-user games and more.Many firms are trying to place smart card functions in phones so that they can be used as ticket and money, etc. Last summer, using noncontact IC function, NTT DoCoMo began to provide various services including electronic money, credit card, electronic ticket, and in/out management of offices. By using noncontact IC function, mobile phone becomes electric wallet. NTT DoCoMo now uses Sony's Felica which could be a defacto standard of noncontact IC in the world.Also, home security and remote monitoring system is another example of 3G mobile phone applications. You can monitor your home from a remote location, not just view images of what is happening around the premises via a video camera, but also monitor the thermostat of your house. There is a central box to link all of the monitoring devices and a portal you can access anywhere via a web browser or mobile phone to see what's happening in your home.3G technology is also applied for location-based services (LBS). People are expected to use the location capabilities of phones to find nearby restaurants, shops, stations, hotels, etc. GPS-equipped mobile phones can precisely indicate the position of wandering elderly persons or small lost children. Currently, over millions of people need daily personal assistance and millions have chronic disabilities. Mobile phone service became ubiquitously available throughout the world. When it becomes 3G, relatively high volumes of digital information can be carried. 3G mobile phone offers major advantages for interactive video traffic. With the emergence of mobile phone networks, a number of systems which use mobile phones to transfer vital signs such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and heart rate have increased instead of early mobile medical system using satellites to establish communications between remote sites and base hospitals.The evolution of current 3G wireless communication and mobile network technologies will be the main driving force for the future developments in telemedicine. 3G wireless technology represents the convergence of various second-generation wireless systems. One of the most important aspects of 3G technology is its ability to unify existing mobile standards, such as CDMA, GMS, and TDMA under one umbrella.It is predicted that the proportion of 3G mobile phones would overtake that of 2G mobile phones by 2006. The carrier who can carry on the generation change from 2G to 3G well would take a lead in mobile phone market.3G mobile phone applications are found in various fields in the market but the possibilities for telemedicine are much higher than that of other areas. In the near future, the increasing medical data traffic and demand from different clinical applications and mobile medical sensors will be compatible with the data rates of current 3G systems. Specifically, in a society penetrated by 3G systems, home medical care and remote diagnosis will become common. Check-up by specialists and prescription of drugs will enable at home. In under-populated areas, virtual hospitals with no resident doctors will be realized based on high resolution transmission technologies and remote surgery. Also preventive medical care will be emphasized for individual health management. Medical data will be constantly transmitted to the hospital through built-in sensor and monitoring system and result will be fed back to the patients.

Recent Research in Telemedicine using 3G and 4GWorks on Design and development of a modular mobile integrated telemedicine system using a conventional mobile telephone is being discussed in the literature. The system is capable of transmitting an electrocardiogram (ECG) from a patient via the GSM cellular network to some remote receiving point. This allows the transmission of medical data from sensors, attached to patients at home or during normal day-to-day activities or in emergency situations, to a hospital or Medical Centre. To implement such a system is a challenging and innovative aim that is the fulfillment of a real need in society. This is based on the realistic assumption that telemedicine will have to adapt to the anticipated global development of personal mobile telecommunications in the next few years. Any system therefore needs to be future-proofed in view of constantly evolving telecommunications technology and with special regard to the advent of the 3G protocol as a replacement for the present GSM protocol.A mobile teletrauma system using 3G networksIt introduces a cost-effective portable teletrauma system that assists health-care centers in providing prehospital trauma care. Simultaneous transmission of a patient's video, medical images, and electrocardiogram signals, which is required throughout the prehospital procedure, is demonstrated over commercially available 3G wireless cellular data service. Moreover, the physician can remotely control the information sent from the patient side. Such a technology will allow a trauma specialist to be virtually present at the remote location and participate in prehospital care, which improves the quality of trauma care and can potentially reduce mortality and morbidity. To alleviate the limited and fluctuant bandwidth barriers of the wireless cellular link, the system adapts to network conditions through media transformations, data prioritization, and application-level congestion control methods. Experimental evaluation of the system prototype over real network conditions, transmitting different media types between the trauma patient and hospital unit, is encouraging.

Design of embedded remote monitoring terminal based on 3G networkIt describes terminal of remote monitoring system based on embedded and 3G networks. It implements the acquisition of physiological parameters such as the ECG, blood pressure, respiration, blood oxygen, and sends the read-time data to remote doctor workstation for display and storage through the 3G network. It uses Linux system migration of the monitoring terminal, design of device driver, 3G wireless module and standardized software interface.3G Smartphone Technologies for Generating Personal Social Network Contact Distributions and GraphsThis presents a novel means of collecting and analyzing data related to personal social contact networks. The work developed a custom application for Smart phones that support Bluetooth connectivity, as representative of the ensemble of many consumer electronic products and can be used to infer users' proximity, contact duration, and GPS-based information. In many cases this is augmented by device meta identity. The 3G application, data storage and retrieval is discussed in detail. Preliminary data were collected (device-device proximity, duration, and location) gathered in pilot testing on the Blackberry Storm and HTC Hero (Android). Data are presented as distributions and visualization tools for evolving contact graphs, including Pareto distributions and power law exponents generated representative of face to face contacts. Finally, data are then demonstrated to be useful in estimating the potential of infection spread (e.g. respiratory illness), where a key transmission vector is person-person contact. A variant of the standard SIR agent based model is developed, with agent contacts guided by contact distributions extracted from the data.A 3G/WiFi-enabled 6LoWPAN-based U-healthcare system for ubiquitous real-time monitoring and data loggingUbiquitous healthcare (U-healthcare) systems are expected to offer flexible and resilient high-end technological solutions enabling remote monitoring of patients health status in real-time and provisioning of feedback and remote actions by healthcare providers. It presents a 6LowPAN based U-healthcare platform that contributes to the realization of the above expectation. The proposed system comprises two sensor nodes sending temperature data and ECG signals to a remote processing unit. These sensors are being assigned an IPv6 address to enable the Internet-of-Things (IoT) functionality. A 6LowPAN-enabled edge router, connected to a PC, is serving as a base station through a serial interface, to collect data from the sensor nodes. Furthermore, a program interfacing through a Serial-Line-Internet-Protocol (SLIP) and running on the PC provides a network interface that receives IPv6 packets from the edge router. The above system is enhanced by having the application save readings from the sensors into a file that can be downloaded by a remote server using a free Cloud service such as UbuntuOne. This enhancement makes the system robust against data loss especially for outdoor healthcare services, where the 3G/4G connectivity may get lost because of signal quality fluctuations. The system provided a proof of concept of successful remote U-healthcare monitoring illustrating the IoT functionality and involving 3G/4G connectivity while being enhanced by a cloud-based backup.A new system of electrocardiogram diagnose based on telemedicineThis introduces a design of new system to diagnose the electrocardiogram. This system uses the 3G net as the way to translate the data, and the smart phone as the client platform. This is new application of telemedicine, in this way the patients will get diagnose much more convenient.A next-generation mobile telemedicine testbed based on 3G cellular standardThe digital cellular network can play an important role in mobile telemedicine applications. Since the network is gradually evolving from the second generation (2G), such as GSM, to the third generation (3G), a testbed based on the 3G cellular standard is proposed for next-generation mobile telemedicine. The 3G-based testbed (12.2 kbps~2 Mbps) has higher and wider data transmission rates than its 2G version (up to 9.6 kbps). Thus, more medical services can be designed and tested using this new testbed. To demonstrate the usefulness of the testbed, we deign a simple telecardiology system as an example. Experimental results show that the proposed testbed has the potential to evaluate and improve the quality of service (QoS) for mobile medical applications using the 3G cellular standard