January 2016 Program
 General Meeting Program
January 12, 2016
Medical Uses for
Wireless Body Networks
USC Professor of Engineering Practice
Dr. Wilner will introduce us to an overview of three types of body networks with a brief discussion of how they are integrated to form a wireless computing platform for medical uses. A body network consists of wireless devices that can be externally worn, surgically implanted or inserted non-invasively. Externally-worn devices are used for monitoring various conditions of patients and collected data are recorded and/or transmitted in real time to the patients’ healthcare providers. Surgically-implantable devices such as pacemakers can have immediate correcting and/or life-saving capabilities by providing low-energy electrical pulses that prompt a malfunctioning heart to beat normally. While these two are stationary, the non-invasively inserted devices are mobile and at micro- and nano-scales, they are either passive or actively controlled. They are used for applications such as targeted drug delivery for cancer.