Testing telemedicine performance and usability in 3G

Abstract

The main focus of this thesis is to give a general description of 3G technologies, including its four international standards, the evolution process, core technologies and basic features. It covers the overall framework of 3G and related knowledge points. The second part models 3G network for telemedicine which is offering medical services in rural areas using communication technology.

As a background project, 3G technology practical capacity was researched on different network standards during the author’s practical training in Network Department of China Mobile Communication Cooperation.

In the thesis, a model of 3G network in telemedicine was built to simulate rural areas. The most important property is high speed of data transmission to achieve real-time remote video and web consultation. In rural areas there is usually more need to reduce the waiting time of diagnosis as the patients are located in far away locations and lack medical facilities.

The test results were collected and analyzed which consisted of web browsing, online video playing and files downloading. The conclusion is that, the speed of 3G could fulfill the basic need of a remote medical network.