Challenges in Real-Time Vital Signs Monitoring for Persons During Exercises

Although there have been a variety of wearable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices around us, which are easily connectable to smart phones, unfortunately, very few people are practicing everyday healthcare using them. There must be some causes in it. This paper examines educational and literate causes in the impracticality of everyday healthcare using wearable ICT devices, which may be inherent to Japan, and emphasizes the importance of real-time vital signs monitoring for schoolchildren in classroom learning and physical training, namely, persons during exercises. Then, the paper points out technical problems in its realization in terms of vital sensing and wireless networking, and introduces some solutions which we have been making up to the present. And finally, the paper shows some challenges of the future towards realization of real-time vital signs monitoring for schoolchildren during physical training, with the possibility of wireless multi-hop networking taking the mobility and location of vital sensor nodes into consideration.