NEWS
X is for X-ray
Could nano-sized wireless devices drift around our veins and arteries in the not-too-distant future - monitoring the human body from within, transmitting health data and sending alerts in the event of medical emergencies such as a heart attack?
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A-Z of Wireless
- A is for Aeroplanes
- B is for Bluetooth
- C is for Caio report
- D is for Dual-mode phones
- E is for 802.16e
- F is for FON
- G is for GPS
- H is for History
- I is for Indoors
- J is for Juice
- K is for Kip Meek
- L is for Location
- M is for Mesh networks
- N is for 802.11n
- O is for Oyster
- P is for Piggybacking
- Q is for Quality of service
- R is for RFID
- S is for Spectrum
- T is for Telemetry
- U is for Underground
- V is for Vulnerabilities
- W is for WiMax
- X is for X-ray
- Y is for Yikes
- Z is for ZigBee
According to a 2008 report by UK telecoms regulator Ofcom, such wireless in-body technologies could make it out of the research labs in the next decade or two.
Ofcom reckons in-body networks could be implanted in patients to monitor their movements and/or vital health signs, such as blood sugar level.
Having gathered the information, the network could send it wirelessly via a home broadband hub or portable monitor to keep doctors informed of patients' progress.
Another medical use of wireless technology that's already in use are wireless detectors for digital X-rays systems - which convert X-ray radiation to digital image data.
Such gadgets make it more easy to X-ray certain areas of the body or less mobile patients as the detector can be brought to the patient rather than vice versa.
