ABSTRACT
Remote health care is currently one of the most promising solutions to ensure a high level of treatment outcome, cost-efficiency and sustainability of the healthcare systems worldwide. Even though research on remote health care can be traced back to the early days of the Internet, the recent COVID-19 has necessitated further improvement in existing health care systems with invigorated research on remote health care technologies. In this article we delve into the state-of-the-art research in latest technologies and technological paradigms that play a vital role in enabling the next generation remote health care and assisted living. First the need of using the latest technological developments in the domain of remote health care is briefly discussed. Then the most important technologies and technological paradigms that are crucial in enabling remote health care and assisted living are emphasised. Henceforth, a detailed survey of existing technologies, potential challenges in those technologies, and possible solutions is conducted. Finally, missing research gaps and important future research directions in each enabling technology are brought forth to motivate further research in remote health care.
ABSTRACT
Touch enabled sensation and actuation is expected to be one of the most promising, straightforward and important uses of the next generation communication networks. In light of the next generation (B5G/6G) system’s need for low latency, the infrastructure should be reconfigurable and intelligent in order to be able to work in real time and interoperable with the existing wireless network. It has a drastic impact on the society due to its high precision, accuracy, reliability and efficiency as well as the ability to connect a user from far away or remote areas. Such a touch-enabled interaction is primarily concerned with the real time transmission of the tactile based haptic information over the internet, in addition to the usual audio, visual and data traffic, thus enabling a paradigm shift towards establishing a real time control and steering communication system. Due to the existing system’s latency and overhead, it creates delays and limits the usability of the future applications. In light of the aforementioned concerns, this study proposes an intelligent touch-enabled system for B5G/6G and IoT based wireless communication network that incorporates the AR/VR technologies. The tactile internet and network slicing serve as the backbone of the touch technology which incorporates intelligence from techniques such as artificial intelligence and machine/deep learning. The survey also introduces a layered and interfacing architecture complete with its E2E solution for the intelligent touch based wireless communication system. It is anticipated for the next generation system to provide numerous opportunities for various sectors utilizing AR/VR technology in robotics and healthcare facilities, all with the intension of helping in addressing severe problems faced by the society. Conclusively the article presents a few use cases concerning the deployment of touch infrastructure in automation and robotics as well as in intelligent healthcare systems, assisting in the diagnosis and treatment of the prevailing covid-19 cases. The paper concludes with some considerable future research aspects of the proposed system with few of the ongoing projects pertaining to the development in the incorporation of the next generation (6G) system. Author