title: Mobile Telemedicine Implementation with WiMAX Technology: A Case Study of Ghana.
abstract: Telemedicine has become an effective means of delivering quality healthcare in the world. Across the African continent, Telemedicine is increasingly being recognized as a way of improving access to quality healthcare. The use of technology to deliver quality healthcare has been demonstrated as an effective way of overcoming geographic barriers to healthcare in pilot Telemedicine projects in certain parts of Kumasi, Ghana. However because of poor network connectivity experienced in the pilot projects, the success of the pilot networks could not be extended to cover the whole city of Kumasi and other surrounding villages. Fortunately, recent deployment of WiMAX in Ghana has delivered higher data rates at longer distances with improved network connectivity. This paper examines the feasibility of using WiMAX in deploying a city wide Mobile Telemedicine solution. The network architecture and network parameter simulations of the proposed Mobile Telemedicine network using WiMAX are presented. Five WiMAX Base Stations have been suggested to give ubiquitous coverage to the proposed Mobile Telemedicine sites in the network using adaptive 4 × 4 MIMO antenna configurations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. ettchao.coe@knust.edu.gh.
authors.forename: Eric Tutu
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Tchao
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana.
authors.forename: Kwasi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Diawuo
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering Technology, Penn State Wilkes-Barre, Lehman, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Willie K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Ofosu
mesh_terms: D003195:Computer Communication Networks / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: Developing country; Healthcare; MIMO configuration; Mobile telemedicine; Simulation; WiMAX