The present paper studies the prospective and the performance of a forthcoming high-speed third-generation (3G) networking technology called High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for delivering emergency m-health applications. The joint transmission of voice, real-time video, medical data such as electrocardiogram, vital signals, heart sound and file transfer is performed for both uplink and downlink. Various scenarios are involved in terms of emergency situations in random locations, where no other system but 3G is available. The accomplishment of quality of service (QoS) is explored through a step-by-step improvement of HSPA systems parameters, incorporating admission and congestion control elements and the use of prioritization for m-health services. HSPA managed to meet the requirements for emergency m-health scenarios and adequately served the generated load.

The design, development, and operation of a network for the monitoring of the non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation in Greece is presented in this paper. Two independent sub-networks, called "Hermes" and "pedion24" have been operating since November 2002 in many areas, and more than 4,000,000 electric field strength measurements have been conducted to date. The measurement results indicate that the non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation levels are several times below the European Commission Recommendation 1999/519/EC and the Hellenic Republic Law no. 3431 reference levels.

The present paper studies the prospective and the performance of a forthcoming high-speed third generation (3.5G) networking technology, called enhanced uplink, for delivering mobile health (m-health) applications. The performance of 3.5G networks is a critical factor for successful development of m-health services perceived by end users. In this paper, we propose a methodology for performance assessment based on the joint uplink transmission of voice, real-time video, biological data (such as electrocardiogram, vital signals, and heart sounds), and healthcare records file transfer. Various scenarios were concerned in terms of real-time, nonreal-time, and emergency applications in random locations, where no other system but 3.5G is available. The accomplishment of quality of service (QoS) was explored through a step-by-step improvement of enhanced uplink system's parameters, attributing the network system for the best performance in the context of the desired m-health services.

This paper describes a wide-area tele-medicine platform, specially suited for homecare services, based on the DVB-RCS and Wi-Fi communication technologies. Implementation of DVB-RCS, utilizing dynamic assignment techniques mandated in the DVB-RCS specification, has been specifically designed and tuned for multimedia and highspeed data transfer. The monitored patients can be practically anywhere, even in geographically dispersed and isolated areas, where normally there is no terrestrial communications infrastructure capable of supporting similar services. The presented platform combines medical data acquisition and transfer, patient remote monitoring and teleconference services. Possible operational scenarios simulated and results regarding available data rates, Quality of Service (QoS) provision, and prioritization of tele-monitoring, videoconference and medical data transfer are provided and discussed in the paper.

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