Digital-care in next generation networks: Requirements and future directions

Digital healthcare applications are part of the Industry 4.0 which is based on smart devices and trustworthy communications technology. The concept of Digital-care is based on providing a permanent connection between the patient and the medical department (medical staff), and the ability to analyze the patient's data automati-cally. With the existence of modern wireless networks, which support, for example, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, virtual reality, virtual machine, and low-power wireless networks it is possible to achieve this permanent connection while maintaining confidentiality and privacy of patient data. Digital-care applications rely on essential features, such as ensuring availability, almost zero delays, adequate storage capacity, and data protection. To achieve this term, many challenges must be solved. This paper presents a comprehensive concept of Digital-care applications, the wireless network infrastructure required by those applications, the role of cur-rent and future wireless networks in their prospects, and the challenges they face. Moreover, this paper also provides a comprehensive discussion of the proposed solutions that can be used on modern wireless networks for adoption.