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rather than paper-based surveys that require manual entry
into the information systems. Lastly, manual entry may also
introduce errors at the time of data entry.
Remote monitoring: Remote monitoring using mobile devices
ensures one-way or two-way communication to monitor vari-
ous health parameters, provide doctor appointments, and also
send reminders about medication regime or upcoming doctor
visits. In some cases, remote sensors can be used to moni-
tor various heath parameters and take immediate corrective
action if the situation demands it.
Communication and training for healthcare workers: Training new
healthcare workers and empowering existing healthcare workers
is the key requirement existing in the healthcare sector. Mobile
devices can be used to empower healthcare workers by provid-
ing them access to the city’s healthcare databases. Another cur-
rent need is to provide effective communication among various
healthcare centers so that they can all work together efficiently
and effectively to cater to the city’s healthcare requirements. is
can also be achieved with the help of mobile devices.
Disease and epidemic outbreak tracking: Diseases often start in
small pockets and later develop into widespread epidemics.
Mobile devices play a very important role in making people
aware of the disease symptoms as well as the preventive mea-
sures. is will help in the containment of diseases at a very
early stage.
Diagnostics and treatment support: mHealth applications are capa-
ble of providing expert advice and tips to healthcare workers
by providing them access to medical databases with the help
of their mobile devices. With the advancement of mHealth,
people are able to receive timely treatment at remote places
without the need for hospital visits, which might otherwise
have proved to be a difficult or impossible task for them.
e mobile devices of healthcare workers are typically equipped
with built-in software. rough this software, healthcare workers can
enter the various symptoms of the disease in a step-by-step manner
and use those steps to get expert advice from senior doctors or from
the knowledge bases present in the hospital/city.
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2.4.7.1 Value Chain for Mobile Heathcare e value chain for a mHealth
system is shown in the diagram that follows. e various stake-
holders are
• Ministry of health/government health agencies—Need to take
the initiative to devise and implement mHealth-related ini-
tiatives in the city
• Funders—Provide the funds that are necessary for the devel-
opment and implementation of various mHealth applications
• Content providers—Design and create various types of content
to be used as a basis for various mHealth initiatives
• Application developer/platform developer—Develops various
platforms/applications for mHealth initiatives
• Mobile service providers—Provide the infrastructure and wire-
less networks that are used for implementing mHealth
initiatives
It is very important that all these stakeholders work in very close col-
laboration for the success of each mHealth initiative.
App
developer
Platform
developer
Project owner/
developer
Mobile service
provider
EHRs, other
databases
Content
developers
Content
aggregators
Laptops
PDAs,
handsets
Ministry of
health
Banks
NGOs
Internet
Health workers
Patient
Patient
Patient
Patient
Patient
Patient
Hardware vendors
Regulatory
Funders
Content providers
Health systems
2.4.8 Wireless Fleet Management
Seamless and flawless fleet management is key to the success of any
fleet management organization. e main aspects of an efficient fleet
management system are the following:
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1. Scheduled maintenance: Regularly scheduled maintenance is a
vital factor to minimize vehicle downtime. All types of main-
tenance activities such as regular oil changes are essential to
improve the life of a vehicle. To chart out preventative mainte-
nance schedules, it is very important to know some key details
about the vehicle, such as the type of vehicle, the average usage of
the vehicle, and the typical road and environmental conditions in
which the vehicle is most likely to be used, warranty details, and
regulatory requirements as applicable. In addition, it is always
better to know the various types of diagnostic problems that are
most likely to occur with different vehicle types.
2. Vehicle performance: Details about individual vehicle perfor-
mance parameters on the road are a key aspect to reduce their
maintenance costs. For example, when trucks are running on
bad roads with high heat and steep grades, it is very impor-
tant to monitor various engine parameters such as the engine,
the air intake temperature, and oil pressure. is can help
fleet managers to monitor engine performance. Collection of
these data will also facilitate vehicle analytics at later stages to
determine if a vehicle is performing optimally.
3. Fuel economy: It is vital to improve vehicle performance
through preventative maintenance, which in turn can improve
fuel economy. Monitoring unauthorized vehicle usage and
excessive speeding of the vehicle can help to reduce fuel
usage. Studies have shown that repairing a vehicle that is out
of tune can increase its mileage by an average of 4 percent. In
addition, fixing a serious maintenance problem can improve a
vehicle’s mileage by about 40%.
Wireless fleet management solutions have revolutionized the fleet
management sector by slicing and dicing the various pain points that are
experienced in the fleet management sector. e proliferation of mobile
devices and high-performance wireless networks has created a profound
impact in the fleet management sector. e various capabilities offered by
the different wireless fleet management solutions are the following:
• Wireless tracking of routes: With the help of integrated GPS
systems, it is possible for fleet management systems to track
and provide the exact location of a vehicle and the route that
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is used for the vehicle’s travel. is will help to ensure that
vehicles follow only stipulated routes with no possibility for
bifurcation. is in turn will help to track fuel expenses and
reduce fraudulent activities such as unaccounted fuel usage
and unaccounted route traversal for activities that would be of
personal interest for the drivers of the vehicles. Fleet manag-
ers can monitor the location and other details of the vehicle
with the help of their smart phones, which can connect and
communicate with the fleet management systems.
• Scheduled maintenance SMS alerts: Fleet management systems
typically have some software components added to the
vehicle’s engine. ese components continuously monitor
various vehicle parameters such as speed, fuel consumption,
and odometer readings. With the help of these monitored
parameters, fleet management systems have the capability to
calculate the maintenance schedule for the vehicles and also
send SMS alerts to the fleet managers informing them about
the maintenance schedule and the various vehicle parameters
or components of the vehicle that may need replacement or
repair during the maintenance.
ese wireless fleet management systems also have the capability to
use wireless networks to store data about the various parameters of a
vehicle in a remote database that can be used later for vehicle analytics
to derive various meaningful patterns about the vehicle’s usage.
2.5 Enabling Mobile Technologies for an Intelligent City
In this section, we discuss some other mobile technologies that will
help in the evolution of intelligent cities.
2.5.1 Mobile Augmented Reality
e increasing proliferation of smart mobile devices has led to the
emergence of new mobile, wearable, and pervasive computing appli-
cations. ese applications make anytime, anywhere availability of
online resources a reality. e aftermath of this is the penetration
of augmented reality (AR) applications into the mobile device sec-
tor. is has led to the evolution of a new set of augmented reality
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applications called mobile augmented reality systems (MARSs). is
technology provides techniques to blend virtual imaging technologies
into the video stream of a mobile device’s camera in real time.
AR applications in general provide a powerful user interface that
will facilitate infusion of the context-aware computing environments.
AR applications blend context-based virtual information into a per-
son’s physical environment. Using this technique, users of AR appli-
cations tend to perceive that the information actually exists in their
surroundings. MARS extend this feature to mobile devices without
considering the mobile device user’s whereabouts or location. MARS
work everywhere by adding a palpable layer of information to the
mobile device user’s environment as and when it is desired or required
by the user. is technology revolutionizes the manner in which
information is made available to people by integrating all Web-related
and other types of information available to a mobile device user. is
technology also allows users to interact directly with the information
that is displayed, pose queries, and collaborate with the people around
to exchange thoughts or seek opinion on aspects of interest.
e main components of any AR system are summarized in the
following diagram:
Book
or brochure
Webcam or
video camera
Standard PC running
Total Immersion’s
software
3D model
appears
superimposed
on printed medi
a
To extend this concept to mobile devices, there should be the pos-
sibility to provide position and orientation of the mobile device user as
well. In short the components of a MARS are the following:
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