Internet of medical things and blockchain-enabled patient-centric agent through SDN for remote patient monitoring in 5G network

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the use of internet resources for accessing medical care, resulting in the development and advancement of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). This technology utilizes a range of medical equipment and testing software to broadcast patient results over the internet, hence enabling the provision of remote healthcare services. Nevertheless, the preservation of privacy and security in the realm of online communication continues to provide a significant and pressing obstacle. Blockchain technology has shown the potential to mitigate security apprehensions across several sectors, such as the healthcare industry. Recent advancements in research have included intelligent agents in patient monitoring systems by integrating blockchain technology. However, the conventional network configuration of the agent and blockchain introduces a level of complexity. In order to address this disparity, we present a proposed architectural framework that combines software defined networking (SDN) with Blockchain technology. This framework is specially tailored for the purpose of facilitating remote patient monitoring systems within the context of a 5G environment. The architectural design contains a patient-centric agent (PCA) inside the SDN control plane for the purpose of managing user data on behalf of the patients. The appropriate handling of patient data is ensured by the PCA via the provision of essential instructions to the forwarding devices. The suggested model is assessed using hyperledger fabric on docker-engine, and its performance is compared to that of current models in fifth generation (5G) networks. The performance of our suggested model surpasses current methodologies, as shown by our extensive study including factors such as throughput, dependability, communication overhead, and packet error rate.