Several students at the Welsh Swansea University are working on developing a “smart bandage” that communicates directly with your physician. This is just one of many connected technologies that will depend 5G, which has been promising to revolutionize how we live our lives since plans for the next generation of wireless were first announced by industry leaders. Many functions that even just a few years ago seemed like the impossible creations of science fiction have been turned into a reality for the average consumer. And now, it will be used to help patients communicate with their physicians from miles away, all within seconds thanks to low latency made possibly by 5G developments.
The “smart bandage” will wirelessly connect with your medical provider, and update them with a constant flow of data on the status of your physical health and any injuries or wounds that are currently in the process of healing. This includes the pace at which your body has been repairing itself, and whether any additional care is needed. The bandage will even track the wearer’s activity levels, to ensure that the patient does not overexert themselves or reopen the wound.
Being developed by researchers from the Swansea University’s Institute of Life Sciences, the medical dressing will include a wireless component powered by nanotechnology that can connect you directly to a 5G wireless connection and immediately with your physician. The smart bandage itself will be constructed with a number of nanotechnology sensors running throughout it. These devices will be made by 3D printers from within the university, severely reducing the cost of the bandages. The nanotechnology would then be used to connect the bandage to a 5G wireless network through your smart phone, and transfer the information to your medical provider within seconds. This includes an update on your location, activity, and status of the injury, all conveyed directly to your doctor.
Swansea University Institute of Life Sciences Chairman Professor Marc Clement spoke with the BBC about the invention, the impact 5G is having on the medical industry, and the potential good it could do for the world. Professor Clement said, “5G is an opportunity to produce resilient, robust bandwidth that is always there for the purpose of healthcare. It would connect that wound to a 5G infrastructure and that infrastructure through your telephone will also know things about you – where you are, how active you are at any one time. You combine all of that intelligence so the clinician knows the performance of the specific wound at any specific time and can then tailor the treatment protocol to the individual and wound in question… Traditional medicine may be where a clinician might see a patient and then prescribe the treatment approach for a month or three months. What the future holds is a world where there’s the ability to vary the treatment to the individual, the lifestyle and the pattern of life.”
The smart bandages are expected to enter trials within the next twelve months. And as 5G transitions into the primary means for reliable and capable wireless coverage, it’s exciting to see what other innovations can come from the tech that won’t just make our lives easier… but also save some of them along the way.
