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Suppose you want to collect blood pressure data from people in certain areas using wearable blood pressure devices and bring the data to the computer system of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) for further data analysis. In your opinion, what types of network (PAN, LAN, MAN, and WAN) can be used to transmit the data from the devices to the computer system of MOPH? Please, briefly describe the advantages and disadvantages of data transmission through each type of network.
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For public health analysis, we can obtain the blood pressure (BP) data in the computer system sent directly from a wearable blood pressure device. In my preference, the PAN (Personal Area Network) is appropriate to transmit the BP data from the device to the computer system rather than LAN, MAN and WAN, and I think that the advantages of using PAN can outweigh its drawbacks.
PAN is the smallest network type and effective for simple data sharing although its transmission has limitation of range. However, PAN is relatively protected and safe for personal purpose and we can pair the device onto the computer, such as to transmit the BP data using Bluetooth. Moreover, LAN (Local Area Network) is also appropriate for unlimited data transfer through Wi-Fi, such as software application sharing and centralized data. But the drawback of LAN is it depends on Ethernet cable or the scope of Wi-Fi signal which the network may be unavailable if the connection out of ranges.
The Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) has broader scope than PAN and LAN, and it normally covers an area within a city. Many resources suggest that MAN is appropriate for companies, business, campus, and government offices; therefore, as a weakness, MAN requires more cable to set up the network from one location to others. Furthermore, WAN (Wide Area Network) has the largest geographical coverage where people can share information over a larger area. Unfortunately, the cost for WAN setup is extremely expensive and it requires much more efforts to implement as the connection is complex. In addition, the theory believes that the more a network can cover broader area, the more vulnerable from threats it is, such as threat from hackers.
To sum up, the transmission process of BP data in a computer system can be done by utilizing the PAN network as its process considered as the simple manner where we can use Bluetooth to pair the wearable BP device with the computer system.
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Based on your question, I think the answer is depended on the number of devices, distance from each device, budget, speed of data transmission, and other resources too.
Before jumping to a conclusion, I would briefly summarize to pros and cons of each network type.
PAN: It’s the simplest network type. Examples of PAN are wifi hotspots and mobile phone Bluetooth device connections. The cost of setting up this type of network is quite low. Another advantage is portability. You can move devices easily in a specific range (<10 m.).LAN: This type of network is suitable for corporate offices. The strength of this network is the high speed of data transmission. However, developing application software to facilitate the LAN connection may not be cost-effective.
MAN: This type of network is quite similar to LAN but could work quite long distances. I would say it is the multiple LAN connecting together. Therefore, the cost of network setting and maintenance is much higher. However, this will be provided by ISP.
WAN: This is the biggest network created by connecting multiple MAN together.
For this case study, I would say there is no single right answer.
If this data collection is performed within a single patient ward and directly sent to the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH). I would purpose using LAN for data collection and using MAN/WAN (Internet) to transmit these data to the computer located in MOPH. The reason for using LAN is the stability of data transmission concerning the fluctuation of BP. If the client lost connectivity for 10 minutes. This BP of the subject to be collected might not be the same.If the data collection is conducted in one province of Thailand. Each subject might travel within the province while collecting real-time BP. The use of MAN or WAN might be more suitable and operation feasible.
Please feel free to provide suggestions and correct me if I’m wrong.
Thank you! -
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To collect data of blood pressure from people and send to Ministry of Public Health, I would like to send blood pressure data from wearable device to the computer or their cell phone using personal area network (PAN) such as Bluetooth. Later, I will use local area network (LAN) to collect blood pressure from people working in the same offices or the same buildings. This can be made easily because most offices or buildings are capable of LANs due to its lowest cost. However, it is difficult to collect blood pressure data from people living in different buildings due to lack of LAN between buildings. Therefore, I will use metropolitan area network (MAN) that connects between buildings with fiber optics. A lot of data can be sent via fiber optics at high speed, although this technology is expensive. Finally, the wide area network (WAN) will be used to collect data of blood pressure from population living in each province. WAN is a good method for communication in long distance.
Ps. From my point of view, I cannot distinguish between MAN and WAN because outside my home or building, the data is sent via fiber optics or radio-frequency wave (like 4G, 5G). Or it use to define the network by only their geography?
Thank you.
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MAN covers a smaller area when compared to WAN. It is a network that connects distant network objects such as connections between offices in different buildings or branches in a city. This network connection uses fiber optic cables or use a microwave (Wi-Max) to connect the offices and braches. In terms of WAN, we can simply say that it is the Internet today because it combines multiple WANs together to form the largest network called the Internet.
Pongthep
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I think the answer depends on the distance between the computer system of the Ministry of Public Health and the point where blood pressure is measured.
If the distance is only a few meters, we can only use a personal area network (PAN) with a wired or wireless connection method, which is both convenient and economical to install.
If the measurement point was in the same building as the computer system of MOPH, I would choose a LAN system that is fast and cheap.
If the distance is greater than the aforementioned, I think that Wide Area Network (WAN) transmission would be cheaper and more portable than Metropolitan Area Network (MAN). Nevertheless, the security of WAN is lower than MAN.
For me, I think that if just sending blood pressure numbers, we don’t need to invest much, just using the internet is enough. However, if planning to transmit large volumes of highly secure data, the investment in cabling to the building by using the Metropolitan Area Network is more attractive.
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That’s right, if we send other sensitve information along with BP value, absolutely, we want higher security in the network. Generally, MAN is safer than WAN(Internet) because it has a smaller coverage area that using within a company or a group of organizations. We can control security and limit people who can access into the MAN network.
Pongthep
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In my opinion, most wearable devices possess wireless connectivity, whether Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ad-hoc or direct cable connection to a computer. Nevertheless, all of the connectiviy methods are considered PAN. Nowadays, the terms PAN versus LAN are relatively indistinguishable in terms of Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi connection that even some people might just call them as LAN inclusively depends on extent of number of devices within. Anyway, the most suitable way of collecting such wearable device data is through PAN regarding the transmission distance, either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi since the data itself is relatively small and doesn’t require that much speed.
However, when many data sources are being collected, they can produce larger datasets. Establishing the MAN, while providing a private resource/network yet is rather hard compared to LAN and requires much more resources. In order to bring those data to the MOPH, if the origin of data is in different places, for example, different building — only LAN should suffice. What if the origin is in a different region or province? (not to mention other countries). Setting up a LAN or MAN would be costly and nearly impossible. In current days, we all have an access to the Internet — a part of WAN. Regardless of where we are in the world, every thing is in the tip of their fingers. Sharing those data via WAN would be the most appropriate way to send your data to the desired destination, no matter where you are. The problem of using WAN is that you are a part of a large network, posing vulnerability of the data being exposed or abused. You’ll need extra steps to take care of those issues such as using a VPN Tunnelling or data encryption to ensure safety and privacy of data.
In summary, to collect data from IOT devices or wearable devices, I would use PAN/LAN. To share data between organisation I would use LAN-to-LAN via tunneling through WAN. So that each organisation can establish their own LAN while allowing remote access to their internal resource by VPN.
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From my understanding, in terms of network type by geographical, it depends on which area, to be specific, the distance from the main MOPH computer system.
In my opinion, we can ideally obtain BP data directly from the wearable blood pressure device to the MOPH computer system but it has to be a specific custom-made installed application software device that both detect the blood pressure and automatically records data from that registered device into the main platform storage on MOPH computer system via the internet (WAN). We probably can all access the internet nowadays but It will cost a lot for the hardware and the software investment.
So I think, firstly, BP data from a wearable device will be sent to the computer or cell phone individually via Bluetooth, Wi-fi, and hot spot (PAN). This network type has some limited support device issues however, it is cheap and convenient.
Next, I will consider the location. For the person who works in the MOPH building, LAN which is already installed probably is the best choice. It has a high-speed transmission and various computed device support. LAN has more security and low-cost network installation itself. Also, people in a distant area but in the same building that already has LAN set up can share their data. We can also transfer data via MAN, which can connect all public health office’s LAN in the same district but it is costly since it needs more cables. Lastly, however, for the reason of privacy and data security and the number of all individual data input packets, I think those data should be organized locally first and sent to the main computer of MOPH by each provincial public health office using an authorized platform via the internet.
Another option is, to collect BP data from wearable devices to the computer/cell phone via PAN, then key in individually in an application/software from MOPH with a verified account using the internet (WAN).
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In order to collect blood pressure data from wearable devices, firstly, wearable devices transmit the data to the computer receiver via the PAN. PAN is the smallest network type, therefore there is a limitation in term of data size transmission. Larger files or larger amount of data processing should be considered while using PAN.
Then, the computer should stored the data locally. Each computer, for example, in a hospital, connect to the data storage of the hospital central data storage via LAN. LAN is larger network type that can also work with larger data storage. Therefore, larger files or data processing through LAN should be more comfortable. Advantages of using LAN can process information faster and more efficient. So, LAN can be consider a scalable network for organizations.
Since, the data stored with the hospital central data storage, they can be connected with MAN or WAN of the computer server of MOPH. MAN and WAN are also the fast communication in the network.
From my understanding, nowadays, wearable devices have a lot of functions included in the device. Program scripts or protocols can be install in the device, and the data can be processed and directly sent from the device to the designated data storage using WAN, or internet (the biggest WAN). Because the devices have better efficiency of the processing units each day.
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All computer networks can be used to transmit data from Blood pressure (BP) personal monitoring device to Ministry of Public health (MOPH) depending on the distance between the network user.
First, collecting blood pressure from the patient depending on the frequency of data collection, if BP has to be collected everyday or every kind of specific activities. PAN (Personal Area Network) could be used to collect data from wearable device to patient’s smart phone via Bluetooth system. Agility is the strength of this type of network, BP could be collected wherever the patient is. High speed and preciseness of data sending are benefits of using PAN. Anyway because of limited distance between devices (<10 meters apart) and number of devices connected are small, sending BP data to MOPH might have to used other networks as well.
LAN (Local Area Network) can be used to collect BP data from patient’s record via smartphone or devices when they visited the data collecting sites or MOPH. LAN is the network that connected the user roughly not over than 10 km. apart and could be used as a private network run in the building or organization. Capability on devices supported, high speed, accuracy of data transferring and security of patient information are advantages of using LAN. However, there might be more than one data collection site throughout the country. In this case, transferring the BP data has to use other, larger networks like MAN and WAN.
MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) could possibly be used if data collection sites are in the same city with MOPH. MAN is the network from connecting many LAN together (< 100 km. are covered). Private MAN network might be costly and hard to set up, public data network from Internet Service Provider (ISP) can be used. However, with the public network security system, patient’s data might have to be apply.
WAN (Wide Area Network) is the biggest network from many connected LAN and MAN. BP data could be sent to MOPH without limitation of distances between user. Data collection sites from different provinces can use WAN to share information or patient’s themselves can directly send BP data via mobile board brand to MOPH. Convenience and speed are the benefits of using WAN. Because of the publicity of the WAN network, the security system has to be applied and the data preciseness has to be checked.
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There are four network types based on geographical area. In general, network type varies on the distance the network is intended to be used. In general, the cost increases as we cover more distance of interconnecting devices.
1. Personal area network (PAN) are those that can be implemented on the personal level like use of Bluetooth and wireless connectivity. Smartwatches can be a great tool if we want to monitor blood pressure among participants. The main limiting factor in using this type of network is its very small working distance.
2. Local area network (LAN) are those that are implemented in universities, hospitals, corporate setting. These can be used in connecting systems on an institution. Cost of interconnecting different departments in an institution maybe costly but I think it will be worth it on a long-term basis.
3. Metropolitan area network (MAN) are like LAN but implemented on a city basis. Usually internet service providers (ISPs) are responsible for interconnecting different parts of the city. People can be controlled who can access which and what data they are accessing.
4. Wide Area Network (WAN) – a great example of WAN is the internet. But in recent times, internet has been a source of questionable data and hacks from various sources so security may be an issue.
With regard to the question, I agree with some folks regarding the distance of the data source to MOPH. I think it would be best to use PAN (for transmission of data from wearables to a computer system, like mobile phone) and MAN (for transmission to MOPH). This also considers security of data transmission.
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For collecting BP data from people in certain areas using wearable BP device and send to the computer system of MoPH. I would agree with three steps of transmitting data in order of the geographical area; PAN, and MAN, respectively.
First the BP data measured from the wearable monitoring device could be transmitted to their own mobile gadget/computer by using PAN. Because, when compare to others, PAN is the cheapest and easiest method and it can interconnect between devices within a few meters.
Then, with regard to a certain area mentioned above, we can transmit the data by using MAN into a center in that particular area or province, for compiling into one big data prior to submit to MoPH system. I prefer MAN rather than LAN because people may not stay in the same place thus LAN is not appropriate in this scenario.
Even though WAN can connect computers over a large distance. Due to security concern, l prefer using MAN for sending big data from each area or province into a central computer system (MoPH) via a specific platform with system access restriction.
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Based on the case study, I would like to assume that we are going to collect blood pressure data from wearable blood pressure devices in real-time. I think the computer system of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) could locate near the blood pressure device. Therefore, using PAN, which is the smallest network, is enough for the transportation of data between the blood pressure device and the computer system. In this case, PAN can be Bluetooth.
On the other hand, using other types of networks including LAN, MAN, and WAN is possible. The large networks in order are WAN, MAN, and LAN, respectively. The larger networks require a high cost for operation and maintenance.
As a result, the reason why I choose PAN is due to its covered area and cost.
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I agree, if the wearable device is locate near the MOPH computer system then PAN would be the best choice.
Also agree with you that the larger network may costs a lot more, also we have to concern more about data security more when the network is large, such as limiting who can access the data since BP is a sensitive personal data.
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I think there are many parameters to concern especially the distance between the collection site and MOPH, also data privacy as well.
I would propose that if the distance is near then choosing the network that covers a smaller area would be safer for privacy data transferring than using the wider one (WAN) since we concerned that blood pressure(BP) is a sensitive information.When collecting data the wearable device will transfer BP data to device near by (cell phone or laptop) using PAN.
– If the collection site is nearby the MOPH computer system we can use PAN. PAN it is easy for small area, safer for privacy since it only shared data with a small area but the cons is that all of the devices have to be very close to the MOPH system.
– If the collection site is within the MOPH building we can use LAN. It is easy and can transfer data in high speed. the disadvantage for this case is that clinical research don’t usually collect the data within a small area such as within an organization building.
– If the collection site is in the same city as MOPH, MAN would be the best choice. However, it may cost a lot for network maintenance such as the network connections.
– WAN (the internet) covers all areas which is easily to transfer from all study area to MOPH. However, this network may not fit in this case when concerning BP is a sensitive information that needs high privacy controls.If it is not necessary I would say choose the smaller network first to control the privacy. Only choose WAN if the distance is really far that the others network cannot cover.
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