Medical Cyber–Physical Systems: A Solution to Smart Health and the State of the Art

TLDR

A medical cyber‑physical system (MCPS) integrates embedded software control devices, networking, and complex physiological dynamics, generating, storing, and remotely accessing digital patient data that, when shared, offers significant value for diagnosis, analysis, epidemic tracking, pharmaceuticals, and insurance. This overview aims to present MCPS architectures and frameworks from multiple perspectives, including modeling and verification, identification and sign‑sensing, key communications, data storage and analysis, monitoring, security and privacy protection, and future research directions. The authors review MCPS architectures, frameworks, modeling and verification methods, identification and sign‑sensing technologies, key communication technologies, data storage and analysis techniques, monitoring systems, and security and privacy protection approaches to outline the technical route. The review yields a comprehensive understanding of MCPS characteristics, technical routes, and the current research status and progress.

Abstract

A medical cyber–physical system (MCPS) is a unique cyber–physical system (CPS), which combines embedded software control devices, networking capabilities, and complex physiological dynamics of patients in the modern medical field. In the process of communication, device, and information system interaction of MCPS, medical cyber–physical data are generated digitally, stored electronically, and accessed remotely by medical staff or patients. With the advent of the era of medical big data, a large amount of medical cyber–physical data is collected, and its sharing provides great value for diagnosis, pathological analysis, epidemic tracking, pharmaceutical, insurance, and so on. This overview will present MCPS’s architectures and frameworks from different perspectives, modeling and verification methods, identification and sign sensing technologies, key communications’ technologies, data storage and analysis technologies, monitoring systems, data security and privacy protection technologies, and key research perspectives and directions. We can have a comprehensive understanding of the important characteristics and technical route of MCPS, and grasp its research status and progress.