Compression and encryption of vital sign signals using an SoC-FPGA

Abstract

This article presents the implementation of a remote monitoring system of biomedical signals with cybersecurity support and compression of vital sign signals and data of the patient. This system uses a low-cost microsystem for encrypting and compressing the information using the Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) lossless compression algorithm and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). In this case, the WolfSSL library is used to implement the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, whose encryption function is accelerated by the AES processor designed on a System on Chip-Field Programmable Gate Array (SoC-FPGA) device. Data transmission tests were carried out from the measurement system to the monitoring application developed in LabVIEW and implemented on a Personal Computer (PC), where vital signs and data of the patient are decrypted and decompressed. The microsystem is suitable for e-health platforms and/or e-health devices that use unsecured communication networks with limited bandwidth.