Demystifying Next-Generation Cyber-Physical Healthcare Systems

Abstract

Digitization of physical, mechanical, and electrical systems gains momentum these days, and it is projected that in the years ahead, there will be trillions of digitized objects/sentient materials. The faster stability and maturity of edge technologies (sensors, actuators, beacons, REID tags, stickers, barcodes, chips, microcontrollers, smart dust, specks, etc.) lead to the faster and systematic realization of digitized systems, which are typically computational, connected, perceptive, active, reactive, decision-making, etc. Now, these digitized entities are being meticulously integrated with cyber resources (enterprise-scale applications such as enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, employee relationship management, knowledge and content management, etc.), a variety of purpose-specific as well as agnostic micro-services, databases (SQL, NoSQL, In-Memory, time-series, etc.). This unique yet challenging linkage between ground-level digitized elements and cyber-level resources is to result in a series of sophisticated, adaptive, service-oriented, event-driven, insights-filled, 150people-centric systems, and services. Such kinds of empowered and deeply integrated systems are being touted as cyber-physical systems (CPSs). Having understood the strategic advantages of such extremely connected systems, every industry vertical is consciously embracing this technological trend to be right and relevant to their customers, clients, and consumers. The healthcare industry is displaying a lot of interest in leveraging the widely insisted benefits of CPSs. There are several medical services, applications, and instruments and these can be decisively and deftly enhanced through this unique integration capability. This chapter is specifically being prepared to tell all about the CPS journey and how it is to impact the medical field in bringing forth next-generation and state-of-the-art medical devices and services.